The Ukrainian Defence Intelligence has released information about the components of the new Russian AI-powered attack drone model V2U, which is capable of autonomous flight and target selection. Its brain is an NVIDIA Jetson Orin chip. The drone is full of other Western off-the-shelf technology, and most of the parts are produced in China.
The Russian V2U AI-powered attack UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) is being actively used by the Russian Armed Forces in the Sumy direction, Ukraine.
Ukraine’s Defence Intelligence Agency (GUR) alleges that Russian drones are powered by Nvidia chips
“A key feature of the drone is its ability to autonomously search for and select targets using artificial intelligence,” the Main Directorate of Intelligence posted on Telegram.
“The computing system is based on the Chinese Leetop A203 mini-computer, which uses a high-speed assembly based on NVIDIA Jetson Orin as its central processor.”
Nvidia designed Jetson Orin compute modules for “next-gen robotics and edge solutions.” They enable the running of complex AI models directly, offering real-time performance.
The NVIDIA Jetson Orin Nano is a compact version of a powerful computer priced at $249. However, its use was intended for “developers, students, and makers.”
Nvidia is subject to strict export controls imposed by the US government, particularly concerning sales of advanced technology to Russia. Officially, the tech giant has ceased all sales and operations in Russia.
“Our Jetson Orin modules are consumer-grade products sold to students, developers, and startups for a wide range of beneficial applications. They are not available in Russia and are not designed for military purposes. If we discover that any Jetson distributor is violating U.S. export controls, we will cut off their supply,” Nvidia spokesperson told Cybernews.
The new V2U drone is equipped with multiple other Western modules. It has an Intel Dual-band wireless AC 8265 adapter, a Sony light sensor, a Swiss 32-bit microcontroller STM32, and an electromagnetic relay from Ireland.
However, most of the components, such as motors, solid-state drive, speed controllers, rangefinder, detonator, battery and power elements are Chinese, as listed on the War&Sanction website.
“The V2U is equipped with only one GPS module, which likely indicates Russia’s abandonment of satellite navigation due to the operation of Ukrainian electronic warfare (EW) systems,” Ukrainian Defence Intelligence writes.
“Navigation is likely performed using ‘computer vision’ – the drone compares images from its camera with pre-loaded photos of the terrain.”
The drone can be controlled via LTE communication with a SIM card from a Ukrainian mobile operator, as it has a Tandem-4GS-OEM-11 modem-router installed.
Ukrainian intelligence agency identified two Russian and two Chinese companies involved in supplying and assembling components for this drone.
Updated on June 11th [06:40 a.m. GMT] with a statement from Nvidia.
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