Czech company LPP Holding has developed and is supplying Ukraine with drones controlled by artificial intelligence (AI).
This was reported by ČTK České noviny.
“Czech company LPP Holding has designed and manufactures drones guided by artificial intelligence that are resistant to enemy jamming. The company has already delivered hundreds of them to Ukraine,” the report states.
According to company co-owner Radim Petráš, the company began supplying drones called MTS to Ukraine last autumn, with AI at the core of their operation.
The advantage of these drones is that they neither transmit nor receive any signals.
“Initially, the operator uploads the mission target into the drone. Then, the AI takes over navigation when it has visual contact, comparing what it sees below with a map and thereby determining its location. So in noisy environments where GPS doesn’t work, the drone won’t get lost and can complete its mission,” said Petráš.
The company representative also noted that feedback from Ukrainian troops has been very positive.
“They say we’re the first to prove that something like visual navigation can actually work,” he added.
According to Petráš, the company has delivered hundreds of AI-powered drones to Ukraine and is currently producing about 100 per month. The goal is to manufacture 20 drones per day.
“We manage the full production process of the MTS system in-house – that includes electronics programming, drone assembly, warhead development, and app and software creation,” said Petráš.
Currently, the company has developed three types of drones, all of which use artificial intelligence as their brain and pilot. The smallest, the MTS05, is a tactical drone with a flight range of several dozen kilometers. The larger MTS25, equipped with an internal combustion engine, can fly hundreds of kilometers. The largest, the MTS40, features an even more powerful propulsion system and can carry a warhead weighing up to 12 kilograms.
