Russia has struggled against stubborn resistance to gain territory in eastern Ukraine. Now Russian forces appear to be testing unmanned ground vehicles armed with anti-tank missiles.
Last week, Dmitry Rogozin, formerly the chief of the Russian space agency, posted footage on Telegram showing what looked like a Marker unmanned ground vehicle firing a Kornet anti-tank missile.
Rogozin is now the head of the Tsar Wolves military group. He said earlier in the year that the Marker system would undergo a “baptism of fire” in Ukraine’s Donbas region, where fighting is especially intense. Rogozin indicated that the Marker, outfitted with Kornet anti-tank missiles, might be a counter to the Abrams and Leopard tanks that the U.S. and Germany have sent to Ukraine.
“As soon as deliveries of Abrams and Leopard tanks to the Ukrainian troops begin, the Marker will receive the corresponding electronic image and will be able to automatically detect and hit American and German tanks,” Rogozin told Russian state television station RIA Novosti.
Will the New Technology Work?
Military technology expert Samuel Bendett is skeptical that the tests Rogozin is promoting will “match the environments the Marker combat robot will face further down the line.”
“The tests are conducted in an open field,” Bendett wrote, meaning there is no rubble, ditches, or buildings to comb through. And although Ukraine has open spaces, the war-torn country also has plenty of destroyed, crumbled cities. “It’s likely that in a real fight, the Marker will have a more complicated environment to traverse,” Bendett wrote.
The test also demonstrated a Kornet firing while the Marker was stationary. But in combat, the Marker will probably be firing on the move.
Regardless, Russian state media outlets are reporting that the Marker, fitted with the Kornet anti-tank missile system, will be entering “serial production” to be “quickly launched” in the Russo-Ukraine War. According to Bendett, the Marker is being produced “to replace fighters in dangerous missions and to make these operations more effective.”
“The whole point of building such systems is to make them expendable,” Bendett said.
Russian Casualties
The Russian effort in Ukraine needs expendable robotic systems, because Russian casualties in the conflict are soaring.
“The number of Russian troops killed and wounded in Ukraine is approaching 200,000,” The New York Times wrote in February, “a stark symbol of just how badly President Vladimir V. Putin’s invasion has gone.”
The Times added that while casualties are tough to estimate, “the slaughter from fighting in and around the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut and the town of Soledar has ballooned what was already a heavy toll.”
1/ Today, Dmitry Rogozin published a video of Marker UGV tests with “Kornet” anti-tank missiles somewhere in Donbas. A few notes on this test https://t.co/cXqFMmxleW https://t.co/fe0GaYBhjv pic.twitter.com/cgCMq7HUV9
— Samuel Bendett (@sambendett) March 31, 2023
The heavy casualties are unlikely to deter Russia from proceeding. “[Putin] has no political opposition at home and has framed the war as the kind of struggle the country faced in World War II, when more than 8 million Soviet troops died.” (To put that number in perspective, to reach World War II level casualties in Ukraine, Russia would need to lose 40 times the troops they have lost in the first year.)
Harrison Kass is the Senior Editor at 19FortyFive. An attorney, pilot, guitarist, and minor pro hockey player, Harrison joined the US Air Force as a Pilot Trainee but was medically discharged. Harrison holds a BA from Lake Forest College, a JD from the University of Oregon, and an MA from New York University. Harrison listens to Dokken.
