Ukraine's military has begun developing a small unmanned vehicle that can move inside underground gas pipelines to track Russian troops and carry out reconnaissance and combat missions. As infiltration operations using underground tunnels have recently produced results, it is moving faster to secure unmanned systems specialised for underground battlefields.

On Nov. 9 (local time), online media outlet Gigazine reported that Ukraine's National Guard 2nd Corps, Khartiia, is developing a small unmanned vehicle that can operate inside narrow gas pipelines through its unmanned systems regiment, Lava.

The development accelerated after Khartiia carried out "Operation Beres" in the direction of Kupiansk. At the time, Ukrainian forces infiltrated Russian rear positions using underground tunnels and conducted the operation by linking ground forces with drone strikes.

Khartiia claimed the operation killed more than 100 Russian troops and captured more than 30 prisoners. Ukraine's military said the operation confirmed that underground spaces can be used as new infiltration routes and combat spaces, and it began developing dedicated equipment to match it.

The equipment envisioned by Lava specialists is a small unmanned vehicle capable of moving through narrow, enclosed gas pipelines. The goal is for it to carry out combat missions as well as reconnaissance to determine enemy positions in underground spaces.

Many existing ground robots are designed on the assumption they will be operated in open areas, which limits their use inside narrow pipelines. Ukraine's military also judges that civilian underground work equipment is geared to large construction projects, tunnel excavation and drilling work, making it difficult to apply directly to military operations.

A commander of Lava's Ground Robotic Systems Battalion, whose call sign is Mathematic (마테마틱), stressed the special nature of underground warfare. "To fight underground and respond to an enemy underground, there are very many tasks that must be carried out," he said. "This is a new field of technology and a challenge we must face," he added.

Ukraine's military does not see underground warfare as a temporary tactic. "War is already being fought underground and will expand further," Mathematic said. "The question is how we adapt to this war," he said.

The development shows the strategic value of underground spaces is growing in the war in Ukraine. If small unmanned vehicles are deployed following troop infiltration through underground tunnels, the operational domain of unmanned warfare, which has developed around ground operations, is expected to expand underground as well.