THE FUTURE IS NOW: Killer Robots Are About to Fill Ukrainian Skies.

In a front-line dugout this spring, a Ukrainian drone navigator selected a target—a Russian ammunition truck—by tapping it on a tablet screen with a stylus. The pilot flicked a switch on his handset to select autopilot and then watched the drone swoop down from a few hundred yards away and hit the vehicle.

“Let it burn,” said one of the team, as they observed a plume of smoke on a video feed from a reconnaissance drone.

Strikes like this represent a big advance in Ukraine’s attempts to use computers to help it combat Russia’s huge army. The drone that carried it out was controlled in the final attack phase by a small onboard computer designed by the U.S.-based company Auterion. Several other companies, many of them Ukrainian, have successfully tested similar autopilot systems on the battlefield.

Now, an even bigger breakthrough looms: mass-produced automated drones. In a significant step not previously reported, Ukraine’s drone suppliers are ramping up output of robot attack drones to an industrial scale, not just prototypes.

Enabling the upshift is producers’ successful integration of inexpensive computers into sophisticated, compact systems that replicate capabilities previously found only in far pricier equipment.

“None of this is new,” said Auterion founder and chief executive Lorenz Meier. “The difference is the price.”

Indeed. It’s also the exact opposite of how the US has approached procurement for 25 years or more.

The real beneficiary may prove to be Taiwan, however. They’ll likely be on their own in case of war with China, given that our Navy seems unready to fight much further west than Midway.