Effective and irreplaceable. Unmanned aerial vehicles have proven themselves excellently in the air, on water, and on land, so more and more front-line tasks are being performed by manned drones. Fighters of the 108th Brigade of the Territorial Defense Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (TrO ZSU) have developed several platforms capable of detonating, delivering ammunition or evacuating the wounded.
The Makhno ground drone. — development of fighters of the 108th ground defense brigade. Thanks to it, the military will be able to deliver provisions or ammunition to the front line, as well as mine territories.
Militaryman Andrii can control the ground platform with the help of a remote control. The man joined the 108th brigade in February 2022. Today, together with his brothers, he works on various projects.
According to the developers, “Makhno” easily withstands serious loads and can develop significant speed.
“If you set it up correctly and the operator had time to get to know it better, it is easy to manage. If you had a similar car [in control] as a child, it is very easy to learn. It took me about two hours to work with the remote control and the machine”, — says Ukrainian defender Andrii.
There is another drone “Makhno”, but it is bigger than its predecessor. The second ground unmanned platform was developed for the transportation of oversized cargo.
Both drones are quite fast and durable, equipped with protection against shrapnel and bullets. However, “Makhno-2” was conceived primarily to evacuate the wounded from hot spots.
“For example, when a group advances, they are covered by the same drones and we have one wounded. The enemy is watching from above, waiting for us to take the wounded — accordingly, there will be more wounded. And so the automatic complex leaves, it loads and goes”, — notes military Dmytro.
“Of course, it will be easier with this technique than carrying a wounded person in your arms. This is a very useful development”, — stresses defender Serhii.
The brigade says that it was the desire to save the lives of fellow citizens that prompted the development of such a device. The production is managed by an officer with the call sign “Discus”. According to him, ground drones make it possible to carry out combat tasks without unnecessary risk.
“Now the position is impossible to pass, — impossible to pass The enemy is actively conducting surveillance, so we decided to collect these drones to evacuate people, carry out logistics,”, — explains “Discus”.
So far, the ground drone “Makhno” is at the testing stage. The military tests the parameters of its operation in various conditions, and if necessary — they are improving the design.
Armyman of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Roman is currently working on one of the products. While welding parts, he talks about himself: he has been in the brigade for more than two years — since he came to the Military Commissariat as a volunteer. In peacetime, he worked as a driver, but with the beginning of a full-scale war between Russia and Ukraine, he changed his profession.
“I realized that it is necessary to help the boys more not in driving a car, but in the production of the same drones, turrets and other equipment. Therefore, they took up welding machines and began to work,”,— says the man.
Electronic warfare equipment is also needed so that “Much” was not only fast and reliable, but also invisible to the enemy. After all, the main thing — its application will save many lives.