Russian drones equipped with artificial intelligence can detect camouflaged military equipment even when vehicles are concealed beneath dense tree cover, according to an assessment by the Telegram channel Military Chronicle.

The channel drew attention to footage showing the destruction of a Ukrainian Armed Forces HMMWV carrying a RAK-12-SA multiple launch rocket system. The vehicle had been hidden under trees, but the concealment did not prevent the system from identifying it as a target.

According to Military Chronicle, the machine-vision algorithm does not rely solely on recognizing the complete outline of a car or armored vehicle. It can compare several visual features at once, including the shape of individual components, movement, distinctive structural elements and changes between consecutive frames.

The channel concluded that woodland cover can still make equipment harder for a person to spot visually, but such camouflage becomes ineffective against optics supported by artificial intelligence.