By Sandip Sen
In February 2022, hundreds of Russian tanks rolled into Ukraine following a three day blackout of information services in Ukraine. Even western news agencies covering Ukraine missed the plot. Meanwhile there was a major Russian troop movement across the border and a full scale invasion of Ukraine was under way. It took couple of months for Ukraine to catch up, but now they are defending simultaneous attacks from multiple locations with diverse weapons like fighters, bombers, missiles and drones with aplomb.
Two years later in Feb 2024 Time Magazine called this the ‘ first AI war ‘ as Russia and Ukraine developed their AI arsenal in an era where military hardware alone will not rule. Both nations have upped their software and are using advanced AI with all their weaponry to maximise effect. But they are not the only one. A few thousand miles away Israel and Iran are fighting their own version of another deadly AI war that could change the future of Middle East. In our four part article we cover futuristic technology advances of the four nations Ukraine, Russia, Iran and Israel in AI warfare.
How Tech majors provide teeth to Ukraine’s AI battle.
If you thought Ukraine had only NATO support in the fight against Russia you are mistaken. In March when communication services across Ukraine was disrupted by Russian jammers and bombing, Elon Musk first volunteered to provide Starlink satellite services to Ukraine to plug the communication gap. There were 20,000 Starlink satellite devices provided by Musk in the frontline of Ukraine till September 2023, before he decided to pull off the support systems citing poor returns and deep loses incurred by SpaceX in the operation. Soon Google, Microsoft and Meta started supporting Ukraines effort to build its AI arsenal.
In early June, three months after the Russian invasion, Alex Karp CEO of a Colorado based data science and analytics firm Palantir Technologies, crossed the Polish border and drove down to the underground bunkers of President Zelensky to offer free artificial intelligence software to Ukraine’s war effort using it as a testing lab for AI backed warfare. At that point Palantir was providing data analytics software and AI support to CIA, FBI, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and a host of foreign intelligence agency. Zelensky was more than happy to receive such unexpected help and Palantir started providing and training the Ukrainian defence forces on how to use AI as data analytics in modern day warfare. Palantir’s software, which uses AI to analyze satellite imagery, open-source data, drone footage, and reports from the ground to present commanders with military options, is currently the tech backbone of Ukraine resistance along with help from Google, Microsoft, Amazon and SpaceX .
Helping AI backed attack
When the full-scale invasion of Ukraine began, it had no clue of how to defend. Then private enterprises and volunteer organisations worldwide stepped up the use of first-person-view (FPV) drones and brought AI-assisted equipment to the trenches and command posts, for defensive duties. Next started AI backed autonomous navigation without GPS support identifying and gathering data for weapon detection and identification.
In the winter of 2024 the AI backed defensive initiatives were being used with the F16 fighter jets shooting down enemy missiles and drones attacking in unison from different locations. In a massive assault on Ukraine on November 17th Russian fighters, bombers, drones along with land and sea based missiles launched a multi pronged attack. But Ukraine’s AI defense shield had by then developed and reported tracking 210 targets including 120 missiles and 90 drones to support a F16 led counter attack. They shot down 102 missiles and 83 drones which included hypersonic Zircon missiles, kalibr cruise missiles and Shahed-2 kamikaze attack drones. AI backed defensive domes are being built in several nations to protect themselves and we will see how Russia is destroying Ukraine with its AI powered communication and military arsenal next week.
AI assisted F16 engaged in missile wars 