A Ukrainian army corps said on Monday that its troops used a remote-controlled vehicle mounted with a machine gun to hold frontline positions for 45 straight days.
“For 1.5 months, the ground drone of the Third Assault Brigade held the position instead of the infantry!” said the Ukrainian 3rd Army Corps in a statement on Telegram.
The platform in question is an uncrewed ground vehicle, or UGV, called the Droid TW 12.7, which is equipped with a .50-caliber machine gun.
It marks one of the first times that Ukrainian troops have said they’ve used a UGV to replace or assist humans in holding front-line positions — one of the war’s most perilous tasks — for an extended period.
The corps published aerial footage of the drone firing its weapon in fields, as well as a short clip, filmed from the drone’s mounted camera, of it engaging an unknown target.
Business Insider could not independently verify the location or date of filming for this footage.
The corps said the ground drone was deployed for 45 days to suppress Russian advances on the frontline with machine-gun fire, and that it was controlled by operators from a safe location.
“During the mission, the enemy failed to infiltrate or occupy our position. And the fighters held the lines with zero casualties,” the corps said.
The unit that operated the Droid TW 12.7 belonged to NC13, a company within the 3rd Assault Brigade that was launched in September and specifically focuses on UGV warfare.
The Droid TW 12.7 is a remotely operated tracked system equipped with an M2 Browning, developed by the Ukrainian defense technology company DevDroid.
DevDroid says that the ground drone has an operational range of up to 15 miles and is controlled via a radio signal, while also featuring automated navigation powered by artificial intelligence.
It recently drew attention for being deployed in an ambush against a Russian infantry fighting vehicle, where footage filmed from its camera showed the drone pivoting quickly to continue firing on its target.
The achievement announced by the 3rd Army Corps is another sign of the growing use of UGVs in the war. Both Ukrainian and Russian troops have been developing such ground drones to fill dangerous tasks, from minesweeping to ferrying supplies near the front lines.
However, Ukrainian companies and units have also been increasingly experimenting with UGVs that can perform combat missions.
While these still require human pilots, they mark the early stages of robotic systems being used in place of human infantry to fight on the ground.
