JUST IN: Ukraine Using Macabre Game to Gather Battlefield Data

Ministry of Defense of Ukraine photo

WIESBADEN, Germany — The innovations Ukraine has used over the past few years to fight off its larger and more powerful Russian enemy have brought the nation renown and admiration.

From first-person kamikaze drones used to track down and destroy armored vehicles to robotic ships that have sunk or damaged enemy ships on the Black Sea, Ukrainian forces have shown the ability to quickly adopt new technologies and provide a feedback loop to constantly improve them.

The Ukrainian Ministry of Digital Transformation has introduced a contest where drone units compete for the most “kills” and receive additional weapons as prizes.

Giorgi Tskhakaia, advisor to Ukraine’s vice prime minister of digital transformation, described the game July 16 at the LandEuro conference organized by the Association of the United States Army.

“Winning the war is all about being creative and innovative with limited resources,” he said in a speech at the conference. Drones have been a “game changer.” They destroy tanks, air defense, enemy personnel and warehouses.

“We asked ourselves: ‘What more can we do for our military to ensure they are as effective as possible?’” Tskhakaia said.

The answer is the Army of Drones program, a contest among units to see who can use first-person drones to take out the most targets.

Damage a tank, that’s 20 points. Destroy a tank, that’s 40 points. A multiple rocket launcher nets 50 points.

As for “personnel losses,” an enemy casualty initially would garner 2 points. However, the ministry later raised that to six points. Making that change “doubled [enemy] personnel losses in one month,” he said.

About 75 percent of the drone teams in the country are participating, he said. To gain points, videos of the attack are uploaded to a military network to be verified.

The units at the end of the month tally up their points that can be spent on more drones. They receive a list of unmanned aerial systems they can choose from and receive the shipment in about a week, he said, noting that they are in addition to the units’ normal requisitions.

“What’s cool is that the [unit’s] weapons of choice is entirely up to it with no state interference, while conventional supplies from the general staff continue,” he said.

The record for the most points in one month was 26,102, he added. That came to hundreds of new drones for the unit.

In January, the contest was expanded to artillery units, he said. And in May, soldiers are receiving points for laying mines.

The contest is not about incentives — Ukrainian soldiers don’t need encouragement to destroy enemy targets — although it has proven to be a morale booster for the best performing units, he noted.

The real purpose is about all the data the Ministry of Digital Transformation is collecting.

Data analysis of the videos collected is showing which drones are the most effective and best practices, such how to attack certain targets such as armored vehicles, he said.

“We analyze everything. We can better understand the weak points and strong points of the Russian [equipment]. We understand what kind of drones and other systems are operating better than others …and there are many other things that I can’t say today,” he said. “Trust me, it’s very interesting data that we are collecting every day.”

“We do feel that data is a future weapon, which will be very important in any warfare,” he added.

 

Topics: International