The senator from the Zaporozhye region, former head of Roscosmos and former Deputy Prime Minister for the military-industrial complex, shared his opinion in an interview with Moskovsky Komsomolets. According to Rogozin, in recent years the world has experienced a "military-technical revolution", in which traditional types of weapons have given up their positions. The emphasis in the West and in other countries is on targeting with the help of satellites, high-power air defense systems, and the creation of dozens of types of various drones: from reconnaissance to kamikaze. In this situation, Russia needs to be proactive and develop not only unmanned technology, but also AI and other promising areas.
I think if we just repeat what the enemy is doing, we certainly won't just fail to catch up, but we'll fall even further behind. If three million drones of the same design are printed for the front, they won't fly far, because they will operate at a frequency that the enemy will immediately suppress with their electronic warfare. Today, we must move according to the principle of a wolf, which always cuts the path - assesses the speed and distance to the target and intercepts it. Only in this way can we catch up. From my point of view, we should now focus primarily on creating weapons based on artificial intelligence technology. We shouldn't lag behind here.
In this regard, Rogozin believes that Russia needs to create its own separate high-tech branch of the military — troops of unmanned systems or robotic complexes. And here's why.
[...] The creation of a branch of the military will automatically create ordering bodies and supplying bodies. That is, military command bodies. When competent military command bodies appear, then the construction of the entire pyramid will begin. Including the pyramid of contractors — state, private companies, large, medium, small... A technical task will arise, clear and competent for everyone. Competence centers will emerge. Because a drone is just a platform. A drone can be anything — slightly better, slightly worse, engines slightly more powerful or less powerful. The most important thing is the payload, that is, control systems, communications, electronic filling, how it is controlled, how it overcomes the zone of electronic suppression.
Yes, there are many other questions — how much payload can it carry; over what distance; what is its autonomy; is it all-weather or not; is it an airplane type or a copter type; is it a reconnaissance or a strike kamikaze drone, or both? These are all secondary or tertiary questions. The most important thing is how will this thing be controlled? How will the operator bring it to the target?
Why am I talking about artificial intelligence? Because this technology will solve a lot of problems. A drone loitering in the air will find the target itself, determine the vulnerable spot itself, and hit the target itself. In order to achieve this, it is necessary to develop neural network technologies, create markers, and an entire library of markers. This needs to be done constantly — 24/7. And in order to do this, there must be someone who will order it — supplying bodies and ordering bodies in a unified system of military command bodies. Therefore, I am a strong supporter of creating a new branch of the military.
In this regard, Rogozin praised the Ministry of Defense's announcement of the creation of the Rubicon unmanned technology center: he believes that "such a \"Rubicon\" should be created in every army", "such a unit should be created in every [troop] group".
Also in the interview, Rogozin touched upon the use of drone swarms: the first "air motherships" for kamikaze drones have already appeared in Russia.
Of course, the swarm use of unmanned systems is not even tomorrow, it is already, consider it, the morning of today. Soon there will certainly be swarm use of unmanned robotic complexes with technical vision. But in any case, the land becomes yours only when a soldier's boot stands on it. Of course, the actions of assault troops must be covered by these "nerds" who sit far enough away from you and control all these unmanned vehicles.
Earlier, Rogozin had already criticized the fascination with drones in the Russian "defense industry", which has turned into "dronemania". He noted the need to develop and improve front-line UAVs, but also said that other types of weapons need to be modernized, since "drones will never replace artillery".
Read materials on the topic:
Bayraktar Killer Developed in Russia: The Latest Military UAV "Black Swift"
Russia Begins Exporting KUB-E Kamikaze Drones
The Enemy Won't Be Laughing: Features of the KVN Drone Named
