6.2.25
Ukraine has deployed an AI-powered turret that has already shot down at least six of Russia's devastating Shahed drones, a military officer told Business Insider. Yuriy, the commander of Ukraine's air defense group, told BI last week that the system, called the Sky Sentinel, has "already been deployed in real combat, demonstrating high effectiveness." He said one prototype shot down six Shaheds in as many operational uses. This appears to be the first confirmation that one of the Sky Sentinels had downed up to six exploding drones. Ukraine previously said that the turret had been successfully tested, including on the front lines. United24, a Ukrainian government initiative that raises funds to purchase weaponry for the military, said last week that a Sky Sentinel prototype was used at the front, where it successfully shot down four Shahed drones. The Sky Sentinel can also take down cruise missiles that are within its effective range, United24 said, but added that many details regarding the system couldn't be revealed due to security concerns.
In remarks to BI, Yuriy, who went by only his first name, a standard practice in the Ukrainian military, described the Sky Sentinel as "a cost-effective and scalable solution for defending both cities and frontline regions from Shaheds, reconnaissance drones, and even cruise missiles." The Sky Sentinel system is designed to require almost no human involvement. This could be key for Ukraine as it tries to stop Russia's aerial attacks amid concerns about dwindling stockpiles of Western air defenses. Yuriy said that the weapon is "powered by AI and designed for autonomous operation." He told BI that when a turret is in a combat position and synced up with radar data, "it independently scans the airspace, identifies threats, locks onto aerial targets, calculates their speed and trajectory, and determines the exact firing point." An operator does not manually select targets, he added. "Instead, the system's sensors and software do it autonomously." Sky Sentinel does the "target detection, tracking, and automatic aiming" itself, Yuriy said, but it still needs human authorization before it fires. "This approach reduces the chance of error while still maintaining human oversight." He said the weapon has successfully identified targets: "Its AI can distinguish between birds and drones, and only engages when the threat is clearly identified. It also factors in environmental variables like wind speed."
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