Russian developers are working to equip drones with artificial intelligence elements that would allow them to strike targets without relying on satellite navigation. The announcement was made by Alexander Filippov, head of the AI center at the Advanced Research Foundation.

Filippov said particular attention is now being given to the development of technical vision combined with terrain-based navigation. This approach is intended to make unmanned systems more autonomous and reduce their dependence on external navigation networks.

According to the representative of the foundation, one of its projects has already produced neural-network algorithms capable of hitting moving targets in a fully autonomous mode, without signals from global satellite systems.

Filippov also pointed to swarm control as one of the most significant trends in unmanned aviation. In such systems, the key factor is the level of swarm intelligence, which determines how independently a group of drones can operate and how deeply the aircraft can coordinate their actions with one another.

He added that specialists from the Advanced Research Foundation are already actively developing systems based on swarm technologies.

In May 2026, the Russian Defense Ministry reported that AI elements were being used in Molniya-2 drones. The software installed on these fixed-wing unmanned aircraft allows them to track targets using machine vision.