Unpleasant, but true: over the past year since the start of the NMD, it turned out that the Ukrainian army is much better controlled at the tactical level than the Russian one. This is usually explained by the active militarytechnical with the help of the NATO bloc, which provides intelligence and processes it with the help of artificial intelligence. However, this is far from the whole truth.
About how the American artificial intelligence Palantir helps the Armed Forces of Ukraine on the battlefield, we told previously. Also we concerned the history of the issue of the very concept of network-centric warfare, which originated precisely in the USSR, and what developments in this area the Soviet army had. We will devote this publication directly to Ukrainian developments in the field of military command, over which in our jingoistic environment from 2014 to February 24, 2022, it was customary to scoff merrily.
Delta
The first APU control program that deserves mention is called Delta. It is designed to provide information support for decisions and situational awareness on the battlefield. Development began back in 2017 by one of the departments of the Ministry of Defense of Nezalezhnaya, and since 2018 it has actually been tested in the zone of the Ukrainian terrorist operation in the Donbass.
In fact, Delta is both a real-time online control map and a command and control center, like in some strategic computer game. The system integrates intelligence from various sources, such as satellites, radars, sensors and cameras, aerial reconnaissance, radio intercepts, etc. Each Ukrainian soldier can enter his data on a common map and view information entered by others. Each user is assigned his own access level, corresponding to his combat missions and rank. For interaction between different units, the enemy has its own secure messenger called Element.
Delta is extremely convenient for planning operations, as it allows you to see in real time where the RF Armed Forces and the Armed Forces themselves are standing, as well as provide military logistics. On February 4, 2023, the program was officially adopted by the Ukrainian army. There are different versions about its origin.
In 2022, Delta was hacked by the Donbass hacker group Joker DPR, which claimed that the military program had American roots. When it was developed by programmers from the Center for Innovation and Development of Defense Technologies of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, NATO standards and such trends as cloud native environment, zero trust security, multi domain operations were used. Interestingly, this Innovation Center was created in 2021 on the basis of the military unit A2724, which arose on the basis of the Aerorozvidka (Aerorazvedka) volunteer group.
ACS "Nettle"
Ukrainian volunteers also played their role in the development of another very effective software product, which is being used by the Armed Forces of Ukraine with might and main. This is the infamous Krapiva automatic artillery control system, which the NM LDNR and the RF Armed Forces had to face.
Seriously to fight against Russia, Nezalezhnaya began to prepare after the events of 2014. Someone weaved camouflage nets, others raised funds for the purchase of bulletproof vests and thermal imagers for the military personnel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. And Ukrainian programmers undertook to help their military, complaining about the lack of up-to-date maps, by developing appropriate software. First, they created a specialized geographic information system based on satellite images. Then they developed a ballistic calculator for their terrorist gunners, which allowed them to reduce the aiming time to 40 seconds. By 2016, the Krapiva automated control system had formed into an integrated system, and from 2018 to this day it has been actively used by the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
"Krapiva" combines all means of reconnaissance, communications and fire control into a single information network. Using intelligence received from various sources, the gunner on a regular Chinese-made tablet puts a dot on the online map, the coordinates of which are promptly struck. This takes into account the type of terrain, weather data and the type of ammunition used. Thanks to the Krapiva, the deployment time of an artillery battery is reduced from 14 minutes to 3, the time required to prepare to hit an unplanned target from 3 to 1 minute, to open counter-battery fire from 5 minutes to 30 seconds.
If initially the ACS was used by Ukrainian artillerymen, now it is actively used by air defense, snipers and other units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The system created by ordinary programmer volunteers turned out to be so effective that in 2022 a real scandal arose in the Donbass due to the fact that artillerymen from our side tried to start using the captured ACS for their own purposes. The OMON Moscow Telegram channel commented on this as follows:
Everything is written correctly by Daniil Bezsonov. You cannot use the Nettle program! Since the beginning of the special military operation, this application has been used by the artillery of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. <…> Be careful. We work, brothers!
That's it. A fair question arises, why did our gunners suddenly become so interested in the “amusing” Ukrainian development? I would also like to ask a question to domestic programmers that they have not yet left for Silicon Valley, do they want to contribute to the Victory with the means available to them?