Ukraine's all-robotic airborne assaults are becoming a new battlefield reality

All-robotic airborne assaults have become a new operational reality in Ukraine.

Courtesy of NC13 Ukrainian forces recently used heavy bomber drones to air-drop armed robots behind enemy lines.

Traditional airborne assaults have been rare.

All-robotic ones, however, are becoming an operational reality.

This tactic has triggered growing attention across the military and defense industry.

Brig.

Gen.

Andrii Biletskyi, the commander of Ukraine's Third Army Corps, made a highly unusual disclosure late last month, revealing that his forces had become the "first in the world" to air-drop ground robots from drones in combat.

Heavy bomber drones had carried the armed robots roughly six miles deep into Russian territory and dropped them there as part of Operation Vivaldi , an assault that is still unfolding in eastern Ukraine and has already seen Kyiv reclaim large swaths of territory from Moscow.

The tactic is called "Gryphon" and is named after a soldier who went missing in action near Andriivka, said Mykola Zinkevych, commander of NC13, the world's first strike uncrewed ground vehicle (UGV) unit.

Rather than driving explosive-laden robots across the front line, heavy drones dropped the bots in the Russian rear, creating an unexpected new direction of attack.

NC13, a unit within the Third Assault Brigade of the Third Army Corps, has played a leading role in Operation Vivaldi.

Zinkevych, who goes by the call sign "Makar," spoke to Business Insider through a translator this week to discuss his unit's participation.

Traditional airborne assaults have been very rare in this conflict as dense air-defense networks threaten air operations.