US AI firm arms Ukraine's kamikaze drones with autonomous targeting

A US company signed a $100 million deal to equip 50,000 Ukrainian kamikaze drones with AI that lets them track and lock onto targets without continuous human operator input. The deal is one of the largest single deployments of autonomous targeting AI in an active conflict.

Why it matters: This pushes the war in Ukraine further toward machine-decided targeting at scale, sharpening international debates over autonomous weapons and human-in-the-loop requirements. It also signals a maturing market for battlefield AI vendors selling directly into active conflicts rather than through traditional defense primes.