AUTOWAR25 No. 16A · Morning Edition
Moscow's mayor says 862 drones were shot down on their way to the capital overnight, the second mass attack in two nights, while Russia sent 113 drones at Ukraine and the death toll at Dnipro's railway station rose to 15. Kim Jong Un opened North Korea's first drone-only exhibition and called for AI-based unmanned weapons, and CENTCOM called Iran's claim to have captured a U.S. target drone false. The FCC set a Nov. 19 vote on drone control links and drone-detection radar.
1. Moscow's mayor says 862 drones were shot down on their way to the capital overnight, and all four Moscow airports were restricted
Mayor Sergei Sobyanin says air defenses downed 862 drones heading for Moscow between 8:30 p.m. Oct. 29 and 7:30 a.m. Oct. 30, the second mass attack on the capital in two nights, APA and bne IntelliNews report.
- Sobyanin says most were destroyed far from the city and 170 were intercepted as they approached Moscow.
- Russia's defense ministry claims 1,043 Ukrainian drones were destroyed over 19 regions overnight, including Samara, Tatarstan, Yaroslavl and Bryansk.
- Vnukovo, Domodedovo, Zhukovsky and Sheremetyevo were temporarily restricted, and St. Petersburg's Pulkovo took 27 Moscow-bound flights, Vedomosti reported.
- No damage or casualties in Moscow had been reported by Friday morning.
2. The death toll from the jet-drone strike on Dnipro's railway station rises to 15, as Russian attacks kill 27 across Ukraine in a day
Dnipropetrovsk regional governor Oleksandr Hanzha says at least 15 people were killed and 14 injured when a Russian jet-powered drone hit the platform where a train to Zaporizhzhia was waiting on Oct. 29, the Kyiv Independent and Ukrainska Pravda report.
- Russian attacks across Ukraine killed 27 people and injured 127 over the past day, local authorities say.
- Four jet-powered drones targeted Dnipro around 11 a.m. and three were shot down, Ukraine's Air Force says.
- About 350,000 people in the region were left without power after the overnight attacks, Hanzha says.
- Six of the wounded at the station are in serious condition, including an 11-year-old boy, Ukrainska Pravda reports.
Sources: Kyiv Independent · Ukrainska Pravda3. Russia launches 113 drones at Ukraine overnight, 83 of them jet-powered Shaheds, more than double the night before
Ukraine's Air Force says Russia fired ballistic missiles, four Kh-59/69 missiles and 113 Shahed, Gerbera and Parodiya decoy drones from 6 p.m. Oct. 29, and air defenses downed or jammed 96 drones, 71 of them jet-powered.
- Hits were recorded at 17 locations and debris fell at five more; Kyiv, Poltava and Dnipropetrovsk regions were the main targets.
- Drones were launched from Oryol, Kursk and Shatalovo in Russia and from occupied Donetsk and Hvardiiske in Crimea.
- The night before, 40 of 112 drones were jet-powered.
- Aviation, missile units, electronic warfare, drone units and mobile fire groups fought off the attack, the Air Force says.
Sources: Interfax-Ukraine · Ukrainska Pravda4. Kim Jong Un opens North Korea's first drone-only exhibition and calls for "absolute superiority" in drones and AI-based weapons
North Korea's state news agency KCNA says Kim attended the "Unmanned Aeronautical Technology Development-2026" exhibition on Oct. 29 and called for putting unmanned weapon systems "on a high-level AI basis."
- More than 30 drone types were on show, including a stingray-shaped stealth drone never displayed before, South Korea's Yonhap reports.
- Tactical suicide drones, tactical cruise missiles, multipurpose drones and a 600 mm rocket launcher battalion took part in a firepower drill against targets built to look like South Korean guard posts and K9 howitzers, Defence Blog reports.
- KCNA photos show a loitering munition destroying a mock U.S. M1 Abrams; it closely resembles Israel's UVision Hero-400, Defence Blog's Dylan Malyasov writes.
- Hundreds of FPV attack drones were displayed on shelves, Yonhap reports.
5. CENTCOM calls Iran's claim that it captured a U.S. MQM-170 drone intact "false," but won't say whether one was lost
U.S. Central Command spokesman Navy Capt. Tim Hawkins says "the IRGC has repeatedly lied out of desperation, and today is no different" after the Guards said they had captured an MQM-170 target drone intact, The War Zone reports.
- Asked whether CENTCOM could confirm or deny losing an MQM-170 for any reason, Hawkins told TWZ: "We're not going to waste our time."
- TWZ says the IRGC video looks credible and shows an MQM-170C-type drone with a forward-looking aperture on its nose.
- Iran recovered an Anduril Dive-LD underwater drone largely intact last month, TWZ notes.
Sources: The War Zone · AP via News186. The FCC sets a Nov. 19 vote on "Unleashing American Drone Dominance," adding 450 MHz drone control links and 24 GHz drone-detection radar
On the day it opened 800 MHz cellular spectrum to drones, the FCC released a 97-page draft order for its Nov. 19 meeting that rewrites rules for the 450 MHz, 24.45–24.65 GHz and 849–851/894–896 MHz bands for drones, counter-drone systems and aviation broadband.
- Part of the 450 MHz band would carry drone command-and-control links under one nationwide license held by AURA Network Systems, the band's only licensee, Drone Authority reports.
- Ground-based radars could use 24.45–24.65 GHz to detect drones at federal sites, stadiums, prisons, the border and critical infrastructure; Echodyne and MatrixSpace have so far run them only under waivers.
- The radar change gives no one the legal power to take a drone down, and the draft can still change before the vote.
- The same meeting takes up radio jamming of contraband phones in prisons.
7. Army combat engineers at Fort Hood test drones and robots from five vendors for the XM123 Autonomous Breaching System
At an Oct. 29 event called Touch Point 5, soldiers from the 1st Cavalry Division's 8th Engineer Battalion examined industry approaches to the XM123, which is meant to find and clear mines and other explosive hazards from a distance, Fort Hood Public Affairs says.
- Approaches include drones and sensors to find hazards, software to recognize suspicious objects and uncrewed equipment to neutralize them.
- One drone drops an explosive payload on a mine and another drops a smaller drone to set it off, FOX 44 reports.
- "The user sets up an autonomous mission back at the base... and the bird flies out and does the mission with the soldier overwatch," a vendor engineer says.
- XM123 is still in development, and soldiers and commanders stay responsible for overseeing the systems, the Army says.
Sources: Fort Hood Public Affairs · FOX 44 via AOL8. Saudi Arabia says it destroyed a Houthi drone in the Mecca region; the Houthis deny launching it
The Saudi-led coalition says a drone launched by the Houthis was intercepted and destroyed in the Makkah region on Oct. 30, the Saudi Press Agency reports; Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree called the claim a fabrication.
- Saree says Houthi operations target Saudi oil facilities and military bases, not the holy city, Al Jazeera reports.
- The coalition has previously accused the Houthis of sending drones toward Mecca and Medina, Islam's two holiest cities.
9. Ukraine's defense ministry says automated turrets have destroyed more than 60 aerial targets, including jet-powered Geran-5s
The Ministry of Defence of Ukraine says automated turrets developed through the Brave1 cluster since 2024 are now in Air Force service and have downed more than 60 targets under the private air defense program.
- Targets include jet-powered Banderol munitions and Geran-5 drones, the ministry says.
- The turrets also destroyed dozens of Russian drones over Kyiv in the past month.
- Private air defense lets companies protect their own staff, plants and energy sites; nearly 100 companies had joined by mid-October.
- More than 10 military units already use a Ukrainian AI-powered turret, the ministry reported separately.
10. The Army picks Lockheed Martin for its Future Interceptor, a project worth more than $1 billion, aimed at advanced missiles and jet-powered attack drones
The Army awarded Lockheed an Other Transaction agreement to prototype and test a new interceptor with better range, altitude, velocity and maneuverability than legacy systems, with the government paying about $660 million and Lockheed $423 million.
- The Army cites hypersonics, next-generation ballistic and cruise missiles and jet-powered attack drones as the threats, DefenseScoop reports.
- Lockheed has offered its new PAC-3 Edge for the program and plans to start testing it in 2027.
- The Army provides much of the U.S. military's ground-based air and missile defense.
11. Lithuania receives its first Thales GM200 MM/C radar, which can spot enemy artillery positions and FPV drones
Lithuania's Ministry of National Defence says the multifunction radar will protect troops in the national division by detecting artillery positions and FPV drones on the battlefield.
- Depending on configuration, the radar can also support air surveillance and air-defense integration, LRT reports.
- The purchase is part of Lithuanian-Dutch cooperation and includes maintenance and future upgrades.
12. Ukraine's defense-tech adviser says Russia's jet-powered Geran-5 drones have hit 1,000 km/h while maneuvering
Serhii "Flash" Beskrestnov, the president's adviser on defense technologies, said Oct. 29 that Ukraine recorded cases of the Geran-5 accelerating to 1,000 km/h while maneuvering, UNN reports.
- "They are constantly trying to make their move, and we are looking for ways to respond," he says, calling it "like a game of chess."
- Russia is involving tens of thousands of engineers in drone development, he says.
- Ukraine must not only build its own technology but outpace Russia's rate of improvement, he says.
- Separately, Ukraine's military intelligence displayed wreckage of downed Geran-5, Dan-T and Filin weapons Oct. 29.
13. DIU-backed Auto-Router, a route-planning app that began as a Carnegie Mellon student project, is tested by Army soldiers in Germany
DIU highlighted its Innovation with Academia program on Oct. 29, pointing to Groundpath's Auto-Router, an ATAK plugin now being tested by U.S. Army soldiers, as Stars and Stripes reports.
- The app weighs terrain, enemy positions and lines of sight to generate several route options in seconds, with compass bearings and pace counts if a device fails.
- The 2nd Cavalry Regiment's Innovation Cell partnered with Carnegie Mellon through Hacking for Defense; DIU picked the beta for continued support.
- Opposition-force soldiers used it at Hohenfels during Combined Resolve to stalk 1st Armored Division troops.
- It rolls out to the 2nd Cavalry Regiment and the 173rd Airborne next month, Stars and Stripes reports.
Sources: @DIU_x post · Stars and Stripes14. DARPA says its RACER program ran the first space-to-tactical autonomous ground experiment, detecting, tracking and engaging simulated threats with humans in control
In "Autonomous vehicles deliver command-controlled robotic lethality," DARPA details the Oct. 15 Fort Knox demonstration of four autonomous ground vehicles and posted on X Oct. 29 about the space-to-tactical experiment.
- Anduril one-way attack platforms were integrated onto Overland AI autonomous ground vehicles and engaged simulated targets after the mission commander's approval, DARPA says.
- "We can drop a 10-digit grid on a traversable mobility corridor" and the vehicles drive it "comparable to a human," says DARPA technical advisor Jason Gregory.
- The vehicles carry sensing, kinetic and non-kinetic payloads, supervised by a single operator.
- RACER wraps up about five years of off-road autonomy software development, Gregory says.
Sources: darpa.mil · @DARPA post15. The Marine Corps fields its L-MADIS mobile counter-drone system to the 1st Low Altitude Air Defense Battalion in Hawaii
Program Manager Ground Based Air Defense completed new equipment training and fielding of the Light Marine Air Defense Integrated System at Marine Corps Base Hawaii in September, a Marine Corps release published by Seapower on Oct. 29 says.
- L-MADIS detects, tracks, identifies and defeats small drones, fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft on the move using radio-frequency defeat.
- Developed starting in 2019, it is now a program of record, the release says.
- "The presence of Unmanned Aircraft Systems is no longer a future concern – it's a persistent threat," it says.
- Training ran from August into September, ending with delivery of the systems.
Sources: Seapower (Marine Corps release)16. Video shows a naval drone closing on the Contship Jet before it sank off Bulgaria, and Greece's prime minister calls for a global maritime truce
Footage released Oct. 29 and verified by Bulgarian outlet Maritime.bg with three independent sources shows a sea drone approaching the Greek-operated container ship's starboard side, Novinite and Militarnyi report.
- Militarnyi says the attacker was an unknown Russian naval drone.
- Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis told a U.N. Security Council meeting that targeting civilian shipping is "completely unacceptable" and urged a global maritime truce, the Straits Times reports.
- The Liberian-flagged ship took three breaches on its starboard side about 17 nautical miles off Cape Kaliakra and sank; all 18 crew were rescued.
17. Ukrainian drones set Rosneft's Novokuybyshevsk refinery on fire, a day after the WSJ reported Kyiv had paused refinery strikes under U.S. pressure
Drones hit the Novokuybyshevsk Oil Refinery in Russia's Samara region on the morning of Oct. 30, sparking a fire, Militarnyi and Euronews report; Ukrainian maker Ukrainian drone maker Fire Point mocked the strike on Telegram.
- The Wall Street Journal reported Oct. 29 that Ukraine had paused refinery strikes after pressure from the U.S.; the Kyiv Post calls this the first reported refinery attack in nearly two weeks.
- The refinery processes about 8.8 million tonnes of crude a year and makes jet fuel for Russia's Aerospace Forces, the Kyiv Post reports.
- Drones also hit a Bryansk factory that supplies food rations to Russia's armed forces.
- Samara's governor reported no casualties, Politico reports.
18. Drone strikes on a camp for displaced people in Ethiopia's Amhara region kill at least 14, including children
Several drone strikes hit a camp for displaced people in Amhara's South Wollo zone on Oct. 29, killing at least 14 people including children and pregnant women, witnesses told AFP; Anadolu puts the toll at 16 dead and 22 injured.
- "Four drone strikes were carried out one after another," a witness told AFP.
- The camp houses more than 1,800 displaced people, many of whom fled violence in the Oromia region, Anadolu reports.
- Neither report says who carried out the strikes.
Sources: AFP via Citizen Digital · Anadolu19. The Army is training AI to spot camouflaged troops in drone video, and designing camouflage to fool it
Stars and Stripes' John Vandiver reports, citing an Army statement, that aided-target-recognition software trained on large image sets now flags possible targets in live drone footage for soldiers to check.
- The Army recently tested the software with a unit, and a flight test with groups of drones is planned at Yuma Proving Ground.
- In one study with the Army Research Laboratory, AI-generated camouflage cut a computer's vehicle-detection accuracy from 99.5% to 38.2%.
- Effective camouflage should deceive machine detectors and still look convincing to people, the study says.
20. "Ground is hard": autonomous ground vehicles are overcoming terrain problems to take on first contact, breaching and resupply
Stars and Stripes' Corey Dickstein reports that robots like Overland AI's new IBEX are getting closer to running missions ahead of Army units with little human input.
- Overland AI CEO Byron Boots says ground robots could make first contact with the enemy, breach obstacles, jam signals or haul gear.
- "The ground is the most important domain," Boots says, because that is where troops live and take and hold territory.
- Overland AI unveiled the IBEX at the AUSA convention this month and has won some $90 million in Pentagon contracts.
Sources: Stars and Stripes21. The Pentagon's inspector general declines a bipartisan Senate request to investigate October's Starlink and Starshield slowdowns in Ukraine
The War Department Office of Inspector General turned down senators' request to find which U.S. officials were responsible for the slowdowns, the Washington Examiner and CNN report.
- Inspector General Platte Moring said the issues were contractual matters better handled by the Air Force and Space Force, which oversee the SpaceX contract, reports say.
- Senators had asked about two weeks ago whether U.S. officials authorized or knew of the restrictions and whether they endangered U.S. personnel.
- Ukrainian officials say the slowdowns hurt drone operations, including grounding Bars interceptor drones.
22. U.S. soldiers and airmen in Germany train on RD-SUADS, a self-powered palletized counter-drone system
The Defence Blog reports, with U.S. Army Europe and Africa photos, that troops trained on Trust Automation's Rapidly Deployable Small-Unmanned Air Defense System, which fits on a pallet.
- Trust Automation says SUADS completed a U.S. Army operational assessment at the National Training Center, Fort Irwin.
- There it detected and engaged drones at roughly 2 to 6 km, with coverage up to about 7 km in favorable conditions.
- That configuration combined radar and electro-optical/infrared sensors with NINJA and DroneBuster electronic attack systems.
Sources: Defence Blog23. Echodyne and Allen Control Systems pair EchoShield radar with the Bullfrog robotic gun turret for counter-drone use on land and at sea
Under a strategic collaboration agreement, EchoShield feeds radar position and velocity data to ACS's Bullfrog, which uses computer vision and autonomous control to aim existing weapons, Military Aerospace reports.
- The radar data helps Bullfrog orient its sensors, hold tracks on maneuvering drones and build firing solutions.
- Tests and demos are planned for fixed-site, mobile, expeditionary and maritime use, including on uncrewed vessels.
- The companies say guns and existing ammunition could reduce reliance on missile interceptors, but disclosed no cost or performance data.
- Both firms hold separate JIATF-401 awards; the combined system has not been procured.
Sources: Military Aerospace24. Germany's ARX Robotics and Ukraine's Roboneers arm the GEREON ground robot with the Shablya combat module, carrying an M2 or Mk.19
ARX Robotics and ROBONEERS have made Ukraine's Shablya remote weapon module compatible with the GEREON UGV, Roboneers told Militarnyi on Oct. 29.
- Full integration in the M2 Browning and Mk.19 grenade launcher configurations is due by the end of the year.
- First deliveries will follow operational requirements, the companies say.
- It is company-supplied information; no customer or order was named.
Sources: Militarnyi25. India's IG Defence and Oman's MSA Global sign an MoU to explore making the KAL long-range one-way attack drone and counter-drone systems in Oman
The exploratory agreement covers co-development and local manufacturing for Oman and the Gulf states, Business Standard and the Times of India report.
- KAL is described as a one-way attack drone with a stated range of up to 1,000 km.
- The MoU also covers the BAJ drone interceptor and the JWALA counter-drone micro-missile.
- No order, factory or deployment has been announced.
Sources: Business Standard · Times of India
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How AUTOWAR25 ranks
Every edition, we scan official channels, news, industry, research, and social posts for the 25 most important developments in autonomous warfare: drones, counter-drone systems, uncrewed vessels and vehicles, and military AI.
Stories rank by source first:
- Official means governments, militaries, and their leaders speaking on the record.
- Premium/Press means established news outlets.
- Industry/Research means companies, think tanks, and published research.
- Social means notable posts from analysts, reporters, and practitioners.
Within each group, newer stories rank higher and engagement breaks ties. A company press release stays out of the top 10 until someone else reports on it. Ongoing marks a developing story, and Carryover marks one from a previous edition that's still moving. Claims from warring parties are labeled as claims, and anything we couldn't independently confirm is marked unverified.
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