By Olha Hembik | 2025-07-11

WARSAW -- A US defense tech company that builds autonomous drones powered by artificial intelligence (AI) is expanding to the front lines of Europe.

Anduril Industries, a major supplier of loitering munitions to Ukraine, plans to begin manufacturing in Poland, bringing cutting-edge battlefield systems closer to NATO's eastern flank.

Ukraine uses Anduril's Altius drones, which can operate individually or in coordinated clusters, according to Nikita Gladkikh, a US-based AI specialist.

The company is known for autonomous platforms like the Altius loitering and Copperhead underwater drones.

They have the proprietary Lattice operating system, which enables real-time decision-making and coordination across systems.

Anduril's Altius 600M and 700M models are "designed for autonomous operations, target lock-on and striking, with reliable protocols to protect against jamming," Gladkikh told Kontur.

AI is now deeply embedded in modern military operations, with decision-making increasingly automated in systems such as air defense and unmanned platforms, he said.

Role of drones

"There's amazing software and manufacturing here, and lots of great people," Brian Schimpf, the co-founder and CEO of Anduril Industries, said at a news conference in Warsaw in June.

The company is "still at an early stage of looking at things and different options" for launching production, he said.

Poland's push to modernize its military, accelerated by Russia's 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine, is one reason Anduril Industries is eyeing drone production there.

Damian Duda, a Polish paramedic who leads the battlefield medic group W międzyczasie, has worked in the Ukrainian combat zone since 2014 and has seen firsthand how drones are changing warfare. Their impact is growing, he said.

"We can see that drones are becoming more effective because the number of victims we're dealing with is on the rise. In many cases there are more victims of drones than wounds from artillery fire," Duda told Kontur.

As drone attacks intensify, evacuating the wounded has become more difficult.

While Western doctrine emphasizes the "golden hour," delivering care within 60 minutes to save lives, "we're now often in a position where we can't even dream of a 'golden day,'" said Duda.

Evacuations often happen only in poor weather, which inhibits drone operation.

"Half of the vehicles sent to evacuate [troops] don't come back. Half of the ones that do come back have been damaged by drones," he said.

Growing expertise

The spread of AI-powered drone technology beyond Ukraine could reshape global security, said Gladkikh.

"This means that similar cheap, expendable, AI-enhanced drones could become more widely accessible, and that will create new security challenges across the world."

Ukraine has adapted rapidly to Russia's shifting tactics, he said, relying on modular drone models with task-specific AI for functions like automatic target recognition and "last mile" navigation. This flexibility has improved strike accuracy and helped counter electronic warfare.

Ukraine's widespread use of first-person-view drones with AI tracking has significantly boosted its strike capabilities, according to Gladkikh. Because these systems are inexpensive and easy to customize, other countries could adopt them, fundamentally changing how wars are fought.

Polish units are already building drone capabilities from the ground up, Duda added, citing the 1st Warsaw Armored Brigade and the 9th Łódź Territorial Defense Brigade.

Russian losses

Ukrainian FPV drones with AI navigation have pushed mission success rates to 70–80% and are responsible for "about two-thirds of Russian losses," according to Gladkikh.

But the battlefield is evolving. Paramedics from W międzyczasie report that Russian drones are reaching deeper behind Ukrainian lines.

"This is expanding the target-rich 'death zone' to 20km and the threat zone to 35km," said Duda.

Drones are central to the war but not enough on their own, Oleksandr Pohrebyskyi, a Kyiv city council member and drone battalion commander, said.

"We will never win a war using drones without the infantry ... It works only in conjunction with something," he told Kontur.

"Even with unlimited artillery," drones alone cannot reclaim territory, he said.

Only the infantry will hold the front line, do the liberating and occupy the liberated territory, Pohrebyskyi said.

Poland is investing in high-tech drones but lacks the defenses to counter them, Duda noted.

"When Poland talks about expensive high-tech drones, it forgets that you need a shield along with the sword," he said, noting that its military units still lack the training or equipment to defend against advanced drone threats.

Meanwhile, Duda continues to evacuate wounded troops in eastern Ukraine and is establishing a training center near Warsaw to build local expertise. The goal, he said, is to "enhance in Poland security and knowledge" about drone warfare.