Defence One reported on the extendable frame that can be outfitted with treads like a tank or with six wheels, and armed with anti-tank weapons, grenade launchers, or machine guns. Currently in testing, the Phantom could be deployed in the Donbass as early as next year, they said.
While Russia also has an array of ground bots it could dispatch to the conflict, Moscow has not signaled any readiness to do so. Russian drones have been deployed to great effect in the region however.
They have identified enemy positions to target fire. They are also used to jam cell-tower signals against Ukrainian soldiers and even against NATO snooping.
Russians have used ground robots in Syria, and Russian media outlets have reported on their missions. Such unmanned ground vehicles, or UGVs, include the Platforma-M, the Nerehta, and the Uran-9. But Russia has not deployed UGVs against their Western neighbour.
“What’s interesting about the Ukrainian conflict is that it’s the Ukrainian side that is developing unmanned systems it thinks will help it fight. Phantom is one such machine,” said Samuel Bendett, an associate research analyst with the Center for Naval Analyses’ International Affairs Group.
The Phantom — occasionally spelled “Fantom” in promotional literature — was designed with input from frontline Ukrainian forces who have been waging a war against its own population.
Maj. Gen. Andriy Kovalchuk, the chief of staff and first deputy commander of Ukraine’s Airborne Armed Forces, defended the decision, saying it would be effective against “highly sophisticated electronic warfare attacks” from Russia.
In the early days of the conflict, “civilians were trying to make something that can stand against Russian electronic warfare systems,” he said through an interpreter. Since then, he said, scores of small business have gathered info on Russian electronic warfare.
The Phantom thus has a backup microwave communication link and can return to its last waypoint when the link to the operator is jammed or severed. If all else fails, or the electronic warfare environment is too tough to allow and wireless control, you can also steer the robot with a 7 kilometer cable, like a 19th-century diver connected to the surface via a breathing tube.
Over the past week Ukrainian gunmen committed 240 ceasefire violations, having launched 718 shells and mortar rounds onto the DPR territory, reports the DPR Operational Command’s Vice-Commander, Eduard Basurin.
“In total, over the past week the enemy committed 240 ceasefire violations and launched 718 artillery and tank shells and mortar rounds of 120 mm and 82 mm calibers,” said the Vice-Commander. According to Basurin, 25 DPR near-front localities underwent the Ukrainian shelling, in four of them 13 houses were damaged.
In the past 24 hours the DPR Operational Command recorded 35 ceasefire violations on the Ukrainian part, the DONi News Agency reported.
In Ochakov, Ukraine, in direct proximity to Crimea, the construction of an American naval base has kicked off. This was announced on the official site of the US Navy on 7 August 2017. Earlier, on 19 July, the US Navy announced new cooperation efforts between its elite troops and their Ukrainian counterparts.
Since 2015, and perhaps even earlier, the Americans have held military instruction programs for the Ukrainian Armed Forces and National guard. At the Yavoriv training grounds in the Lvov region, some 290 American commandos are known to be training Ukrainian National Guard soldiers.
While the American military has long since established training programs for Ukrainian troops in Western Ukraine, their current “cooperation” is reaching new heights with the establishment of permanent American military bases on Ukrainian territory.
The Constitution of Ukraine stipulates quite clearly the country’s non-aligned status. The NATO Charter also forbids accepting countries which have territorial conflicts with their neighbours.