The AFU Has Taught A Robot To Launch Drones

• 20.02.2026, 23:49

The Ratel H NSC can launch four UAVs at once.

Ukrainian arms company Ratel Robotics has modified one of its ground robot models to carry and launch fiber-optic drones. Now, as Business Insider writes, the Ukrainian military can launch drones closer to the front, while pilots can be several kilometers away.

The Ratel H model of the NRC is equipped with a launcher in a protected box. At the launch point, it opens and releases a small drone connected to a fiber optic cable. The unmanned ground vehicle functions as a mobile launch point.

The company's CEO Taras Ostapchuk told Business Insider that "the ground robot becomes something like a base station" for the four drones it can carry. "These bases are typically human-controlled launch points where pilots need to be close to danger to get the drone into the air," the article said.

Ostapchuk also said the ground robot can drop off operators at a safe location and then continue toward the front to launch the drones. Operators who remotely control it and the fiber-optic drones can remain "in the safest possible location."

The goal is to make "everything as safe as possible for all the people on this mission," the CEO said.