AI Upgrade Lets Ukraine’s Low-Cost Kamikaze Drones Autonomously Hunt Targets

Ukraine’s $400 Shrike drones, already credited with destroying Russian armored vehicles and helicopters, are being upgraded with AI technology from US company Auterion. The system lets operators fly the drones into a battlefield, select a target up to half a mile away, then switch to autonomous fire-and-forget tracking. Deliveries of the AI-equipped drones, built by Ukraine’s SkyFall, began in mid-July, with plans to send 50,000 to the front lines in the coming months.