• A Ukrainian robot maker says long wars may favor cheap, scalable ground systems, not top-of-the-line armor.
• Expensive tanks and armor are limited and slow to replace, while robots can scale fast.
• Using attritable ground robots for some missions could reduce the strain on traditional vehicle stocks.

Ukraine's experience shows Western militaries how major yearslong conflicts can deplete tanks and armored vehicles and why warfighting robots might matter more in the long run, a Ukrainian ground robot maker told Business Insider.

In a long, high-cost conflict, the number of vehicles needed for tasks ranging from combat to logistics could make relying on expensive armored vehicles like tanks unsustainable, Oleg Fedoryshyn, the director of R&D at Ukrainian robotic systems maker DevDroid, said.

These systems are expensive and slower to produce, making it difficult to replace heavy losses, Fedoryshyn said. However, robots, he said, are "quite cheap" and significantly easier to produce and replace if they're destroyed.

Officials in the US and allied militaries have raised concerns that in a prolonged war — particularly against a near-peer adversary like Russia or China — stockpiles of key munitions, including air defense and precision weapons, could be strained. Likewise, vehicle inventories, especially in the age of cheap drone strikes, could suffer heavy attrition in a protracted conflict.

Fedoryshyn's comments align with broader warnings from Western officials that Ukraine's war has highlighted the need for large volumes of cheaper, attritable systems, essentially inexpensive and expendable mass that militaries can fall back on when more traditional assets are damaged or destroyed.

Ukraine has underscored how a war like its fight against Russia's invasion can demand both sophisticated systems and large numbers of expendable ones.

Ukraine fields masses of cheap weaponry. Many of its low-cost drones fail to reach their targets or have a significant impact, but they are deployed at such a scale that they can still eliminate far more expensive systems. High losses are expected — and generally acceptable — because they are cheap and quick to replace.

Ukraine has a growing fleet of ground robots that are used to evacuate injured soldiers, carry weaponry and heavy goods, lay and remove mines, and attack Russian positions with weaponry. These are also expendable. As Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov said this month, the focus is on making cheap and effective systems that Ukraine can scale quickly.

Some Western military leaders have also argued the need to manage costs. US Army Secretary Dan Driscoll said last year, as the service reevaluated the Robotic Combat Vehicle program, that "we can't sustain a couple-million-dollar piece of equipment that can be taken out with an $800 drone and munition."

The war has highlighted how vulnerable tanks and armored vehicles can be to artillery and cheap drones. Drones costing hundreds of dollars destroyed tanks worth millions. Tanks have adapted with new armor and tactics but remain at risk.

Ground robots are not a perfect replacement for tanks and armored vehicles, and Western militaries likely wouldn't want to entirely replace those traditional assets. Those vehicles have more power to get over tough terrain, provide far more protection for important assets that need to be brought across the battlefield, and can conduct far larger and more impactful attacks.

But ground robots can take over some roles and keep humans safer in the process. They can attack positions with explosives or mounted weapons such as machine guns and grenade launchers. They can also deliver to the front lines.

The latter use is one in which Ukraine is investing heavily. Fedorov said recently that Ukraine's goal is to use ground robots for 100% of front-line logistics missions.

Tanks have seen mixed performance in Ukraine and reduced use after heavy losses. Ukraine is still making and getting some armored vehicles from partner countries and has requested more tanks, but it is increasingly placing far more emphasis on other types of weaponry.

Constant drone surveillance, limited air cover, and limited numbers of tanks have made Ukraine's armored operations more difficult. The more advanced Western militaries might struggle less, but these factors could still pose a challenge, especially if they find themselves in a protracted slog.

Ukraine is betting big on its robots. Fedorov announced last week that Ukraine will contract 25,000 new robots in the first half of this year, which is double what it contracted for all of last year.

Fedoryshyn said that his company is able to quickly make updates and repairs to its robots, including by having teams that stay near the front lines to quickly fix damaged systems or make rapid upgrades to them. That allows for same-day repairs and even recovery of damaged robots from the battlefield.

• Russia has equipped its cheap "Molniya" strike drones with more battery power and better cameras.
• The modifications allow Russia to use these drones for a new purpose — battlefield reconnaissance.
• Moscow doesn't need to rely too heavily on its more expensive reconnaissance drones.

Russia has boosted the range and vision of its fixed-wing Molniya drones, turning cheap, crude aircraft into more capable platforms that can now scout as well as strike in Ukraine.

The upgrades let Moscow lean more on the Molniya ("lightning" in Russian) for battlefield reconnaissance, replacing the pricier surveillance drones like the Supercam and Orlan-10.

Russia has been equipping some of its Molniyas with additional batteries to extend their range, a high-definition camera, and a mesh modem for better communications, Serhii "Flash" Beskrestnov, an advisor to Ukraine's defense ministry, told Business Insider.

The Molniyas have historically been considered one-way attack drones that carry a warhead and explode on impact. They have been adapted for other missions, though, including carrying smaller first-person-view (FPV) quadcopters, resembling a mothership.

Beskrestnov, a prominent Ukrainian drone warfare expert, said Russia began operating newly modified Molniyas around two months ago and has increasingly used them for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) purposes since then.

The Molniya ISR variant lacks a warhead and is instead equipped with advanced surveillance electronics, including a microcomputer and a rotating camera with a 10-fold optical zoom, according to a US military weapons information portal.

The modified Molniyas are significantly cheaper than the more traditional fixed-wing Supercam S-350 or the Zala Z-16, well-known Russian reconnaissance drones estimated to cost up to $100,000 apiece. The inexpensive Molniyas are made of light materials such as plywood, foam, and aluminum.

Beskrestnov said that Russia can obtain 10-15 Molniyas for the same price. The saturation of Ukrainian interceptor drones over the battlefield has pushed Moscow to opt for cheaper, more expendable assets for reconnaissance and targeting.

He speculated that this shift is driven by increased Ukrainian interceptor activity.

Dimko Zhluktenko, a soldier in Ukraine's 413th Unmanned Systems Regiment, said the modified Molniya drones are relatively easy to manufacture, giving Russia an ideal price for reconnaissance missions. He called these efforts "the war of scale" in a social media post earlier this month.

Neither Russia's defense ministry nor its US embassy responded to a request for comment on the Molniya ISR developments.

Russia and Ukraine have been constantly modifying their drones during the war to try to gain an advantage before the other side either catches up with the technology or develops a defensive countermeasure.

One of the biggest changes is a shift from radio links — easily jammed — to fiber-optic cables that are largely immune to the electronic warfare saturating the battlefield.

These fiber-optic cables have primarily been used to operate smaller FPV drones. However, Russia has begun using them with larger, fixed-wing platforms such as the Molniya.

Russia and Ukraine have taken their innovations a step further with unusual armaments, in some cases equipping drones with air-to-air or surface-to-air missiles to hunt down aircraft.

• Rudrojas Kunvar, 16, built Evion, an AI tool that helps farmers analyze crop health.
• The tool collects aerial crop data from drone-captured images.
• Kunvar created Evion to make that data more accessible to small and midsize farms.

While meeting with a venture capitalist last year, 16-year-old Rudrojas Kunvar received an offer that would excite even the most nonchalant teens: accept $300,000 to drop out of high school and run his AI startup full-time.

"It was definitely a rough couple of weeks of contemplating," Kunvar, who lives in Germantown, Maryland, told Business Insider. "That's a lot of money."

Kunvar had spent the summer before building Evion, a free AI crop-analysis tool that uses images taken by basic camera drones that farmers can purchase themselves.

The AI model analyzes images and generates a crop health map that farmers can integrate into their existing platforms or access via a dashboard. Green means healthy, while red means unhealthy.

"Farmers can use that to predict the future of their crops," Kunvar said. "You can see what areas need more water or fertilizer, rather than just spraying everywhere."

Like construction and defense, drones are reshaping America's agriculture industry. There were about 5,500 agricultural drones registered with the Federal Aviation Administration in 2025, up from about 1,000 in 2024, according to Michigan State University researchers.

Kunvar said Evion can help farmers save money because the targeted data can eliminate crop health uncertainty, meaning they'll be less likely to waste water or fertilizer.

Kunvar says Evion is positioned as an alternative to companies that market pricey agricultural drone products or services. Instead, farmers can buy cheap camera drones, take their own photos, and upload the information themselves.

"It's meant to be a more affordable plan for these low to mid-scale farms," Kunvar.

After building Evion, Kunvar partnered with Jacob Lee, who has experience creating tech tools, to expand its reach. Kunvar launched the initial pilot in the fall.

Ultimately, Kunvar declined the $300,000 drop-out offer, saying he wanted to ensure his product remained accessible and didn't get wrapped up in chasing profits.

It all started with a question

The idea behind Evion came during Kunvar's sophomore year at Poolesville High School in Montgomery County while attending a community festival. One-third of Montgomery County is designated as an Agricultural Reserve, or protected local land meant to preserve rural space.

"I asked a farmer about how they're able to tell when a disease is coming or what slight discoloration means," Kunvar said. "Essentially, he said he's guessing. I spoke to a few other farmers, and I realized there was a common thread among all of their responses."

Kunvar, who said he's had a lifelong love for technology, was surprised.

"We've had a lot of AI advancements in various verticals and various industries," he said. "Why isn't there much happening for agriculture?"

Initially, Kunvar wanted to make his own fleet of fully autonomous drones that could capture the data, but went a different direction after talking with mentors and crunching the numbers. Instead, he studied drones and pinpointed what's driving their cost: the multispectral camera.

"The camera was the leading cost. I wondered, 'What if there's a way to get similar data without needing this camera? What if I could use a simple camera?'" Kunvar said.

He pointed toward Tesla and its autonomous vehicles as proof it work. Unlike Waymo and other companies that use lidar, Tesla relies on cameras.

After setting up the logistics and AI model, the founders sought clients by sending cold emails and LinkedIn messages. They found better luck, however, partnering with agriculture-oriented nonprofits and organizations to reach farmers.

Now, the technology is helping farmers in North America, Southeast Asia, and India.

As for his future plans, Kunvar wants to continue growing Evion while exploring opportunities in different fields, including AI infrastructure.

"There's so much ambiguity in entrepreneurship, especially in startups, but I've learned there's beauty in ambiguity," Kunvar said. "There's been times where nothing's working out, and then you have the tiniest win, and it's like, 'wow, maybe I can do this.'"