Swarms of drones with automatic patrols, controlled by a single operator, may appear in Ukraine as early as 2026, said Roman Kostenko, secretary of the parliamentary Committee on National Security, Defense and Intelligence, during the Kyiv Security Forum for Youth.
Swarms of drones with automatic patrols, controlled by a single operator, may appear in Ukraine as early as 2026, said Roman Kostenko, secretary of the parliamentary Committee on National Security, Defense and Intelligence, during the Kyiv Security Forum for Youth.
According to Kostenko, drone swarms should become a tool for constant control of the «gray zones» between the positions of the parties. These are areas where the presence of infantry is currently associated with high risks, and reconnaissance and surveillance require significant human resources.
Automation will play a key role in the proposed model. One operator will control the system as a whole, while hundreds of drones will perform tasks independently: patrol a designated space, record movement, detect targets, and transmit information. The drones will operate in a continuous cycle: some will be in the air, while others will return to base stations for charging and maintenance.
This approach, according to the deputy, will minimize the participation of the military in the most dangerous zones and reduce losses. A person will remain in the decision-making loop, but routine and risky processes will be performed by automated systems. Full autonomy without operator control is not envisaged — this is precisely about automation, not replacing a person.
Kostenko emphasized that full autonomy without human participation is not being considered. It is about automating processes, which will reduce losses and increase the efficiency of controlling the space between battle formations.
The concept of drone swarms involves the mass deployment of cheaper and simpler drones instead of single, complex platforms. Such approaches are being actively explored by the US, Chinese, and NATO militaries as a response to manpower shortages and the growing role of unmanned systems in modern warfare.
Previously, dev.ua wrote about how Nazar Bihun, the head of the Lviv startup NORDA Dynamics, which is working on the technology of autonomous control of drones in electronic warfare conditions, considers a swarm of autonomous drones to be a weapon more effective than nuclear weapons.
