Andrii Biletskyi, the commander of Ukraine’s Third Army Corps, made a highly unusual disclosure late last month, revealing that his forces had become the “first in the world” to air-drop ground robots from drones in combat.
Heavy bomber drones had carried the armed robots roughly six miles deep into Russian territory and dropped them there as part of Operation Vivaldi, an assault that is still unfolding in eastern Ukraine and has already seen Kyiv reclaim large swaths of territory from Moscow.
The tactic is called “Gryphon” and is named after a soldier who went missing in action near Andriivka, said Mykola Zinkevych, commander of NC13, the world’s first strike uncrewed ground vehicle (UGV) unit.
Rather than driving explosive-laden robots across the front line, heavy drones dropped the bots in the Russian rear, creating an unexpected new direction of attack.
NC13, a unit within the Third Assault Brigade of the Third Army Corps, has played a leading role in Operation Vivaldi.
Zinkevych, who goes by the call sign “Makar,” spoke to Business Insider through a translator this week to discuss his unit’s participation.
Traditional airborne assaults have been very rare in this conflict as dense air-defense networks threaten air operations.
Operation Vivaldi, however, has demonstrated the potential for entirely uncrewed airborne assaults.
Rather than risking helicopters, transport aircraft, or paratroopers, drones can drop robots behind enemy lines, and Ukraine’s booming defense industry is working on solutions to advance this concept, as are military units.
Brave1, Ukraine’s state-backed innovation platform, said several days after the Third Army Corps’ airborne assault reveal that another combat unit, the “Alter Ego” robot battalion of the 93rd Mechanized Brigade, had developed and deployed similar technology.
The unit engineered a specialized robot called “Desantnyk,” as well as a mechanism that allows its heavy bomber drones to carry and drop the robot deep behind the front lines.
It has already been used to attack Russian positions, Brave1 said, adding that the entire process, from initial concept to combat deployment, took just 10 days.
Without an off-the-shelf robot on the market that bomber drones could readily carry and drop, especially at long ranges, the Alter Ego unit could only develop one itself, a Brave1 representative told Business Insider, relaying information from the unit. “This is an asymmetrical solution that the enemy does not expect — delivering mobility and the capability to conduct operations far behind enemy lines,” the representative said.
From the robot’s combat experience, Alter Ego now understands that the UGVs must balance mobility, range, and payload, while also maintaining resilient communications with operators.
Brave1 said it helped the unit find a manufacturer so they could turn the prototype into serial production.
Other Ukrainian defense companies, likewise, see value in these systems.
Volodymyr Zinovskyi, the CEO of the Ukrainian defense firm TAF Industries, told Business Insider in London recently that his company has developed both robots and heavy bomber drones and could easily combine the two for a mission.
The concept of using robotic systems to carry each other into battle is not necessarily new.
Earlier this year, for instance, Business Insider reported that a Ukrainian defense manufacturer said soldiers surprised them by dropping one of its robots from a drone.
And motherships have become increasingly popular.
Ukrainian firms have engineered new ways to launch drones from autonomous platforms, such as uncrewed boats and ground robots, significantly increasing their operational range.
Using drones to air-drop robots into battle — a tactic Brave1 said is unique to Ukraine and that only a few units are able to pull off right now — is Kyiv’s latest homemade mothership concept.
The development comes amid broader efforts by Ukraine to replace soldiers with robotic systems for dangerous front-line missions, especially logistics runs and casualty evacuation. “During assault operations, ahead of the infantry, UAVs and loitering munitions always go first,” Biletskyi, the Third Army Corps commander, said on September 20 while sharing Operation Vivaldi details on social media.
Ukrainian defense companies and soldiers told Business Insider that mothership ideas like air-dropped robots — combining technologies in creative and effective ways — underscore the direction that war is headed.
Zinovskyi, the TAF Industries CEO, said that defense companies were previously focused primarily on producing drones.
The next challenge is systems integration, where mixed systems work together to complete missions.
Zinkevych, the NC13 commander, said that he’s pleased to see multiple firms developing bomber drones capable of carrying UGVs and described these efforts as a key example of industry scaling a system that has already proven effective on the battlefield.
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