Military analyst and director of the Air Defense Forces Museum Yury Knutov spoke about the features of the Ukrainian kamikaze attack drone known as Marsianin.

According to the expert, the main danger of this loitering munition is linked to elements of machine vision and artificial intelligence. Knutov claims that the drone itself is not a Ukrainian development: it is the American Hornet, which uses software from a NASA Mars rover. That is why the aircraft came to be called Marsianin in Ukraine.

The expert also described how such UAVs are used. According to him, the Ukrainian Armed Forces use balloons to increase their range. The drone is attached to a cable under the balloon, hanging nose-down. Before launch, Knutov noted, weather conditions and wind direction are taken into account. After the balloon reaches the designated area, the drone is released and begins searching for targets on its own.

Knutov said that when the drone’s operating time runs out and its battery is discharged, it attacks everything that enters its machine-vision field. Among possible targets, the expert named a person, a bus, civilian transport, an ambulance and other objects.

In Knutov’s assessment, the use of such drones and strikes on civilian facilities indicate that Ukraine has finally shifted to a strategy of international terror.