Before birds and insects: "Rubicon" changed the landscape of the battlefield — CNN

A top-secret Russian unit, Rubicon, based in Moscow, has changed the landscape of drone warfare, turning the advantage of Ukrainians into vulnerability. This is reported by CNN.

The appearance of Rubicon (Rubicon Center for Advanced Unmanned Technologies) is a vivid example of how the Russian army has learned to adapt to a rapidly changing battlefield, the publication says.

It is noted that the center is engaged not only in the design and deployment of drones, but also in the development and testing of advanced robotic systems, as well as projects in the field of AI.

Rubicon became a pioneer in the use of fiber-optic UAVs, which had a significant impact on the battlefield. These drones are controlled using a fiber-optic cable that provides a secure video stream in real time and cannot be jammed by electronic warfare, the TV channel reports.

"Rubicon units remain the main problem for [Ukrainian] drone operators, not only by themselves, but also because they train other Russian units," said Michael Kofman, a senior researcher at the Carnegie Endowment.

Rubicon units are so important that the Ukrainian special services are now intensively searching for their advanced bases, the TV channel notes. The adoption of innovations by the Russian army makes Russia "a more dangerous adversary for Ukraine, as well as a much more capable and dangerous army capable of threatening Europe," according to a new report by the American think tank Special Competitive Studies Project.

The world represented by Rubicon and similar structures "will soon have swarms of autonomous drones capable of overcoming enemy defenses, micro drones that are difficult to identify or stop, and drones imitating birds, insects or other wildlife," said military analyst Dara Massiko.

Drone fighting —and electronic drone fighting — is evolving almost weekly as a form of survival, she said. "Experts like to say that armies shape war. But war shapes armies too," said Massiko.

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