Unmanned land vehicles : directions of research and development

The article presents the historical background and development of unmanned land platforms in selected countries, including Russia, Germany, the US and Poland. The author points out the technical problems of combat use of unmanned land platforms, among others, related to the difficulty of operating in the field, control of armaments, and their lower effectiveness compared to unmanned aerial vehicles. In his opinion, the most desirable directions for the development of unmanned land platforms in the areas of operations support and logistics, and the need to turn to higher-weight platforms. In conclusion, the author postulates the thesis that full autonomous combat use of unmanned land platforms is likely to be economically unjustified as well as unprofitable in terms of the combat value of these vehicles in the next few to several years. The author points out the need to develop this technology and use a technological benchmark mainly of US solutions.