A “TerMIT” unmanned ground vehicle rolls off a ramp during a demonstration in Ukraine on June 5.
Photographer: Julia Kochetova/BloombergThe Future of Modern Warfare Is Being Built in Ukraine
After more than three years of all-out war with Russia, the country has turned into a factory of weaponry that’s redefining the battlefield.
In the wooded dunes that flank the Dnipro River outside Kyiv, two squat unmanned vehicles resembling mechanized crabs descend a ramp onto the sand. Around the length of a shopping cart and double the width, the 280-kilogram (620-pound) robots are steered wirelessly by a human operator, their tracks making light work of the terrain.
Known as “TerMIT,” one has a simple steel platform to bring supplies to troops at the front. The other has a superstructure that makes it look like a miniature combine. But rather than reaping crops, it sows a deadly harvest of anti-tank mines at the remote touch of a button.