“Autonomous” - but which part?

MSSG’s Martin Mycielski spoke with Jacek Piwkowski of Poland’s PERAVIA and Ramil Lipp of Estonia’s Lendurai at MSPO in Kielce. The interviews were first published by MSSG on 10 September.

Piwkowski described propulsion technology for vertical and horizontal flight. The work remains in research and development, with the efficiency of the drive units among the problems the team is working on. This is development work, not evidence of an operationally deployed product.

Lipp explained Lendurai’s approach to interceptor autonomy: functions performed onboard, the operator’s role and an option to require human confirmation of a target. At the time of the interview, combat testing in Ukraine was still ahead.

Navigation, detection and engagement decisions are different functions. A claim of autonomy does not establish that all three are automated, or that a system has been tested in combat.

These are the manufacturers’ accounts, recorded at a trade fair. MSSG has not independently tested the systems. The original video lets readers hear the answers in context.