German "kamikaze" MAUS drones: AI‑driven and wooden warriors

Interesting "kamikaze" MAUS drones from Germany are heading to Ukraine. These drones are both lethal due to the use of artificial intelligence algorithms and very cheap to produce because they use wood.

The client for the MAUS drones produced by Donauhstal is the famous Kraken special unit. This is one of the most effective volunteer formations fighting in Ukraine, which receives the best equipment. Previously, these included "Black Hornet" microdrones, and now they will get MAUS drones conceptually similar to improvised FPV drones but without their flaws.

MAUS drones are a multi-tasking quadrotor platform with a range of 5-6 kilometres designed for surveillance or kinetic attacks. The 3-kilogram payload drone can be easily rearmed, and available equipment includes 30 mm VOG grenades, 40 mm NATO grenades, and 85 mm anti-tank-shaped charge warheads.

That's enough to eliminate individual soldiers, infantry fighting vehicles, or tanks in favourable circumstances. More importantly, the drone has a thermal camera that allows for night operations. Additionally, the MAUS uses artificial intelligence algorithms.

Their operation is unknown, but it is possible that the MAUS drone would be able to hit a target even in the presence of Russian electronic warfare systems mounted on Russian tanks. These do not always work correctly, but they create a sort of bubble around the vehicle with a range of several tens of metres, inside of which FPV drones lose connection and usually fall to the ground.

The key to bypassing them is to design the drone so that it can independently attack the target without requiring pilot engagement, based on, for example, the movement of the vehicle observed before the loss of connection or as a result of the onboard camera image analysis.

It is worth noting that Ukraine is working on using AI in remotely controlled turrets. Such solutions are already applied in some modern ordnance supplied to Ukraine in small batches but are not yet widely used on a large scale.

An interesting point is Germany's use of specially impregnated wood to build MAUS drones, reducing production costs by 75 per cent compared to plastic-based solutions. In the reality of a war of attrition, as is currently the case in Ukraine, having access to an effective means of attack that is quick and cheap to produce is extremely important.