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US Military Invests $115 Million in Ground Robots as Ukraine Scales UGV Use
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The Pentagon is beginning to expand its use of unmanned ground vehicles as the US military studies battlefield lessons from Ukraine, where more than 22,000 UGVs were ordered in the first seven months of 2026, Defense One reported on November 3.
The US Defense Department committed more than $115 million to UGV projects in fiscal 2026, according to public records and GovTribe data cited by the outlet.
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Ukraine’s approach has emphasized relatively simple, inexpensive, and replaceable systems because of the high rate of battlefield losses.
“What Ukraine says they need, and obviously it’s the same for the Russians, more or less, is something that’s not very expensive, something that is attritable, something that if lost could be easily replaced,” drone analyst Samuel Bendett told Defense One.
“These are not overly complicated UGVs. They’re relatively simple. They have a lot of commercial components,” he added.
Ukrainian ground robots are commonly used for logistics and casualty evacuation. The TERMIT system can carry up to 300 kilograms of supplies or wounded personnel, while other platforms are increasingly being armed for combat.
Defense One previously reported that Ukraine used a Droid TW 12.7 UGV armed with a .50-caliber machine gun in 2025 to defend a key intersection against repeated Russian attacks.
The US military is pursuing more complex systems designed for a wider range of missions and operating environments.
The Marine Corps recently converted an artillery unit into its first Navy-Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System battalion. NMESIS uses unmanned vehicles equipped with two Naval Strike Missiles capable of engaging ground and naval targets at ranges exceeding 100 nautical miles, according to Defense One.
The Marine Corps and the US Army’s 75th Ranger Regiment are also spending nearly $25 million on more than a dozen IBEX UGVs from Overland AI for logistics and counter-drone missions.
Overland AI separately received two contracts totaling more than $34 million for autonomous breaching capabilities in August and September.
Unlike Ukraine’s focus on cheaper systems that are often remotely controlled, US programs are placing greater emphasis on higher levels of autonomy, Defense One wrote.
“Soldiers train for and are expected to complete the mission in these types of environments, cut off from consistent communications and data networks,” Overland AI co-founder and CEO Byron Boots stated. “Overland AI believes that autonomous systems should be held to the same standard.”
Ukraine’s battlefield-tested ground robots are already moving into NATO training environments. In October, Ukrainian company DevDroid tested its UGVs with the Italian Army, connecting the platforms to a NATO tactical network and operating them alongside Italian robotic systems during assault, evacuation, and coordinated maneuver scenarios.
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