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Cost and Production Efficiency Comparison
A comparison between traditional heavy armored vehicles and modern robotic systems in terms of production cost and scale.
Primary Sources
Ukrainian Weapons Maker: Ground Robots Could Matter More Than Tanks ...
Ukraine's fight shows the West why cheap robots could matter more than armored vehicles in a long war, arms maker says By Sinéad Baker You're currently following this author! Want to unfollow? Unsubscribe via the link in your email. Ukraine has a growing fleet of ground robots that take over some roles of other vehicles and keep humans further from the fight. Dmytro Smolienko/Ukrinform/NurPhoto via Getty Images 2026-04-27T15:15:57.237Z A Ukrainian robot maker says long wars may favor cheap, scalable ground systems, not top-of-the-line armor. Expensive tanks and armor are limited and slow to replace, while robots can scale fast. Using attritable ground robots for some missions could reduce the strain on traditional vehicle stocks. Ukraine's experience shows Western militaries how major yearslong conflicts can deplete tanks and armored vehicles and why warfighting robots might matter more in the long run, a Ukrainian ground robot maker told Business Insider. In a long, high-cost conflict, the number of vehicles needed for tasks ranging from combat to logistics could make relying on expensive armored vehicles like tanks unsustainable, Oleg Fedoryshyn, the director of R&D at Ukrainian robotic systems maker DevDroid, said.These systems are expensive and slower to produce, making it difficult to replace heavy losses, Fedoryshyn said. However, robots, he said, are "quite cheap" and significantly easier to produce and replace if they're destroyed.Officials in the US and allied militaries have raised concerns that in a prolonged war — particularly against a near-peer adversary like Russia or China — stockpiles of key munitions, including air defense and precision weapons, could be strained. Likewise, vehicle inventories, especially in the age of cheap drone strikes, could suffer heavy attrition in a protracted conflict. Ground robots aren't as advanced as tanks, but are cheaper to field at scale. Ukrinform/NurPhoto via Getty Images Fedoryshyn's comments align with broader warnings from Western officials that Ukraine's war has highlighted the need for large volumes of cheaper, attritable systems, essentially inexpensive and expendable mass that militaries can fall back on when more traditional assets are damaged or destroyed. Ukraine has underscored how a war like its fight against Russia's invasion can demand both sophisticated systems and large numbers of expendable ones.Ukraine fields masses of cheap weaponry. Many of its low-cost drones fail to reac...
Ukraine's killer robots show how war is changing
For the first time, Ukraine has captured a Russian position using only ground robots and aerial drones, reports suggest. In a message posted on social media on April 14, Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky said: “The occupiers surrendered, and the operation was carried out without infantry and without losses on our side.” Zelenskyy offered no further details about the operation, but this points to a serious shift in how such robots are used. They are increasingly being deployed in direct combat in war zones. What was once imagined as the future is now a reality. Until recently, these ground robots were used mainly by the Ukrainian army in support roles, including resupplying frontline positions, evacuating wounded soldiers, and carrying out mining or demining operations in targeted areas. However, there have been other reported uses of these robots (also known as an unmanned ground vehicles) in combat roles in the war between Russia and Ukraine. In January 2026, Ukrainian forces were reported to have captured three Russian soldiers in Zaporizhzhia using a single ground robot. Footage of the incident, which circulated online, showed the impact of facing a robotic system in combat written on the faces of the captured soldiers. This has been going on for some time. In March 2025, The Wall Street Journal reported that Ukrainian forces engaged Russian forces near Kharkiv using several ground robots equipped with machine guns. These were deployed from different positions and supported by first-person-view (FPV) attack drones. Improving with experience Not much is known about the type of unmanned ground vehicles used by Ukraine. But reports suggest that among the weapons used in most of these attacks is the Droid TW 12.7, developed by Devdroid, a private tech company in Ukraine involved in the manufacture of military robotics. This robot is armed with a 12.7 mm M2 Browning machine gun, has a firing range of up to roughly one kilometre, and is equipped with night-vision capability. It is remotely operated, rather than fully autonomous, although it can carry out preprogrammed combat tasks. Devdroid, like most military tech start-ups in Ukraine, appears to hold an advantage in manufacturing these systems and in testing them in active combat conditions on a timely basis. This creates rapid feedback, allowing for quick adjustments and improvements based on battlefield experience. Ground robots are often used in combination with aerial drones. Maria Senovil...
Ukraine's land robots are revolutionising the shapeshifting war with ...
More than four years into Russia's grinding war in Ukraine, Kyiv's forces are driving up their use of land robots. Troops who use them and engineers who produce them tell Alex Croft that the ...
Drone and robot war: the war in Ukraine is turning into a ... - YouTube
systems— drones and ground robots—that are changing the very logic of combat ... inexpensive technology to compensate for its shortage of personnel and ...
