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The Ukrainian Ministry of Defence has announced a Dovbush T40 uncrewed aircraft reportedly capable of covering more than 2000kms to strike a target.
The Ukrainian-made Dovbush T40 unmanned aircraft system reportedly acts as a multifunctional strategic-level unmanned aircraft to provide deep reconnaissance and precision strikes against targets deep into enemy territory.
Dovbush T40 is designed to conduct deep reconnaissance, fire adjustment, precision strikes against enemy facilities, equipment, and personnel at considerable distances from the line of contact, according to the Ukrainian MOD.
“The Dovbush T40 has a wingspan of nearly five metres and can remain airborne for more than 24 hours. Its operational range is sufficient to strike targets beyond the Urals and in Russian Siberia.
“During testing, the Dovbush T40 confirmed its stated tactical and technical characteristics. It offers several advantages over comparable aircraft (with) ultra-low radar signature, a high-performance engine with an electronic fuel injection system, multiple options for engaging targets (including) one-way (kamikaze) attack missions or munition drops; innovative technological solutions. In addition, the Dovbush T40 is highly resistant to electronic warfare.
“The Dovbush T40 UAS was manufactured by a Ukrainian company with extensive experience in producing unmanned aircraft… Since the beginning of 2026, the Ministry of Defence has codified and authorized 413 UASs for use by the Defence Forces of Ukraine, nearly all of them Ukrainian-made.”
Earlier this month, the Ukrainian MOD also announced that units of the Defence Forces of Ukraine are already using more than 70 different systems powered by AI and computer vision technologies to strike enemy targets.
More than 200 companies in Ukraine currently produce AI-enabled drones, according to the Ukrainian MOD and Brave1 Market, the defence technology marketplace, offers 46 AI solutions including target recognition, optical stabilization and automatic terminal guidance modules.
The Ministry of Defence of Ukraine aims to ensure that 100% of drones on the front line are equipped with computer vision and AI capabilities.
“Algorithms are now being entrusted with critical combat tasks, ranging from navigation and object identification to autonomous target engagement. However, the final decision on target selection and engagement is made by a human operator,” according to the Ukrainian MOD.
“In general, the process works as follows navigation without satellite-based systems. Computer vision algorithms analyse the terrain and landmarks below the aircraft and compare them with uploaded maps. This enables precise positioning without a GPS signal, both day and night.
“Object recognition. Neural networks analyse visual data to detect enemy equipment and personnel.
“Target engagement. Computer vision enables the drone to lock onto the target during its approach and continue toward it autonomously. This allows the drone to engage targets even after losing communication with the operator due to enemy electronic warfare.
“AI thus plays a role across the entire kill chain; the sequence from target detection to destruction, including target identification, engagement, and assessment of engagement effectiveness.”
The Ministry of Defence of Ukraine has granted Ukrainian defence companies access to the Avengers Labs platform. The platform was created to train AI models for unmanned systems using real battlefield data. Avengers Labs is built around an annotated dataset of 5 million frames collected on the battlefield.
In addition, the Ministry of Defence launched the Defence AI Center ‘A1’ in March to systematically integrate artificial intelligence across the military and the Ministry of Defence. AI will analyse combat data, help accelerate the kill chain, and improve combat technologies.
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