Red Robots Rising: Behind the Rapid Development of Russian Unmanned Military Systems

"In 2014, Russian Ministry of Defense developed and approved a comprehensive target program called "Creation of Prospective Military Robotics through 2025." The Ministry also formed a commission for the development of robotics, headed by the Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu. To formulate battlefield needs for the next 10-20 years and to justify developments of military robotics, Russia launched an annual conference in 2016 called “Robotization of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.” The goal of this annual event was the development of “unified interdepartmental approaches for the creation and development of military and special-purpose robotic complexes (RTCs).” Russia also launched its own version of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) called Foundation for Advanced Studies, tasked with working on various unmanned and robotics projects for the military."