Forterra deploys over 100 autonomous ground vehicles in Ukraine

Forterra, a US-based builder of autonomous vehicles, says it has deployed more than 100 of its Lancer vehicles in conflict zones in Ukraine over the past nine months, describing it as the largest deployment of American-made autonomous ground vehicles in combat by a US defense tech company.

The vehicles are based on Polaris ATVs and equipped with a custom sensor and compute stack; they are gas-powered and can carry up to 750 kilograms, compared with Ukrainian-built battery-powered models limited to 250 kilograms.

Since arriving in Ukraine in October 2025, the Lancer vehicles have completed more than 1,100 missions, traveled more than 2,500 miles, and carried a total of 777,440 pounds (approximately 353 metric tons) of cargo, including 52 casualty evacuations.

Forterra modified the vehicles for frontline use, notably by adding Starlink satellite internet antennas, which the company says added significant value in contested environments.

Ukrainian forces have primarily teleoperated the vehicles in combat zones, partly due to their high value and partly because current autonomy systems are not yet capable of reliably identifying and reacting to unexpected enemy threats in real time.

Forterra has also gathered lessons on electronic warfare resilience, remote software updates, and operating in difficult terrain, and says it is refining its autonomy stack by combining classical robotics with newer generative AI approaches.