Iconic first century American machine guns work on the Ukrainian battlefield, including AI-enabled robots designed to fight Russian troops.
John Browning came up with a .50 caliber M2 Browning machine gun in 1918 towards the end of World War II, but did not participate in service with the US military until it approached World War II. Known as the “Ma Deuce”, this powerful gun is one of the most famous and lasting weapons.
It has undergone many upgrades and it is still being used by the US military and other troops. In fact, it is one of the most widely used heavy machine guns in the world today.
And now, it's part of the robotics era. It is attached to advanced autonomous robots in Ukrainian use of AI to drive Russian positions and attacks.
Battlebot with M2
Ukrainian forces use robots equipped with machine guns, grenade launchers and explosives to fire on Russians and blow them up beside Russian targets. Many Ukrainian defense companies working in this space have chosen the M2 machine gun as the armament for these robots.
For example, the Ukrainian FRDM Group is the manufacture of drones and ground robots that make remotely controlled ground combat vehicles with the D-21-12 fitted with .50 caliber guns.
Designed for firefighting and surveillance, the robot weighs 1,289 pounds, including ammunition, and can travel over 6 mph. It was approved for use by the military in April.
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Ihor Kulakevych, product manager for FRDM Group, told Business Insider last month that the M2 was chosen because heavy machine guns are readily available in many arsenals in the West. This weapon and ammunition is easy to obtain.
A photo of the FRDM Group's D-21-11 robot equipped with a gun. Mykhailo Fedorov
The same cannot be said about the supply of Soviet-made machine guns in Ukraine. Stocks are low and stocks can't be gained any more, except catching them in combat.
Kulakevych said his company also views the M2 as a particularly reliable weapon.
Vadym Yunyk, CEO of FRDM Group, told BI that it has developed the robot “in response to the need to reduce human resources risks while performing logistics tasks on the frontline.” He said it could be used for tasks such as evacuating wounded soldiers and acting as a “platform for attaching weapons.” He said it “proven its effectiveness on the battlefield.”
Other robot manufacturers also use M2. For example, the Ukrainian company Devdroid has developed a new combat module for the Droid TW 12.7 Grand Robot Complex, which can carry M2 Browning.
The vehicle was originally developed as a logistics platform, but with the addition of a machine gun, it turned it into a combat robot, the company said this month. It is on the battlefield in Ukraine, and the company said it uses AI to describe it as “high-precision target recognition using artificial intelligence.”
The M2 is also used in an AI-powered turret called the Sky Sentinel, which Ukraine said could shoot down some of Russia's vastly devastating Shahed drones and stop cruise missiles.
The Sky Sentinel system is designed to require little human involvement. This is important for Ukraine as it faces a large talent shortage compared to much larger Russia. The system uses AI to find and track targets and determine firing solutions. This is valuable to Ukrainians as they face relentless Russian air attacks while tackling the lack of air defense.
High and Low Tech Solutions
Fighter planes from Ukraine's independent anti-aircraft machine gun battalion actually use brown heavy machine guns in trucks. Ukrinform/Nurphoto via Getty Images
The M2 has seen combat in various conflicts, from World War II to Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan.
In Ukraine, it is used not only by robots but by actual soldiers. Ukrainian air defense soldiers are using M2S mounted on the back of their truck to shoot down Russian drones. (The BI Reporter actually tried this weapon simulator from Kyiv).
Wars in Ukraine feature both high-tech solutions, along with luxury combat options, such as any other type of conflict in history, new types of electronic warfare, and more drones than other emerging technologies, along with more drones than shooting down fiber optic drones or rushing welded cages in a tank.
The ground robots set up for evacuation will be tested in Ukraine. Mykhaylo Palinchak/SOPA Images/Lightrocket via Getty Images
There's something straight from World War I, or trench warfare like ground robots with machine guns.
Ground robots are a technology previously used by Western military forces, but Ukraine is developing them at new speeds and scales, and constantly gets feedback on how they work on a fierce battlefield so manufacturers can improve them.
