Ukraine builds combat robots to hunt Russian troops in underground gas pipelines
Ukraine is developing a new class of combat robots designed to operate inside underground gas pipelines, where Russian troops have repeatedly attempted to bypass frontline defenses, United24Media reports.
The project, disclosed by Ukraine's 2nd National Guard Corps, Khartiia, involves modifying unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) to perform reconnaissance and combat missions in spaces too narrow for conventional military machinery. The work is being carried out by specialists from the corps’ Lava Unmanned Systems Regiment, following Operation Veles — an underground assault that saw Ukrainian soldiers advance more than 15 kilometers through pipeline infrastructure near Kupiansk.
Khartiia says the operation killed more than 100 enemy soldiers and resulted in over 30 captured, although those battlefield figures have not been independently verified.
New class of warfare
There is a very long list of tasks that need to be accomplished to fight underground and counter the enemy underground. This is a new class of technologies and challenges that we will have to confront.
The commander of the Lava ground robotic system battalion, identified by the callsign ‘Matematyk’, said the project addresses a category of warfare that requires a different approach from conventional battlefield robotics.
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