# NATO-backed drone picked its own target and struck

> A Swedish AI system let a loitering drone autonomously select and attack a vehicle in January 2026, with no human intervention during the strike itself.
- Title: NATO-backed drone picked its own target and struck · TechRadar
- Summary: A Swedish AI system let a loitering drone autonomously select and attack a vehicle in January 2026, with no human intervention during the strike itself…
- Keywords: scaleout systems, bae systems, alma drone, autonomous weapons, lethal autonomous weapons, sweden, ai targeting, convention on certain conventional weapo, technology, NATO-backed, drone, picked
- Source: TechRadar — https://techradar.com/pro/this-nato-backed-drone-ai-picked-its-own-target-and-struck-it-but-relied-on-a-human-drawn-map-to-do-so
- Published: 2026-09-21T21:05:00+00:00
- Read time: 2 min
- Topics: scaleout systems, bae systems, alma drone, autonomous weapons, lethal autonomous weapons, sweden, ai targeting, convention on certain conventional weapo, technology
## Swedish AI system strikes target alone
A drone flying over a snow-covered Swedish test range in January 2026 found several objects, ranked an armored engineering vehicle as most valuable, and struck it without human input during the strike.
## Scaleout Systems supplied the onboard AI
Uppsala-based Scaleout Systems provided the AI for BAE Systems Bofors' Affordable Loitering Modular Ammunition, or ALMA, program. No actual explosives were used during testing.
## Humans set parameters but not the strike
A pilot remained on standby to monitor the process, but did not intervene. Humans set the mission parameters and started the system, but the drone handled selection, targeting, and neutralization end-to-end.
## Autonomous drones offer military advantage
An autonomous drone that can select targets without oversight or a backlink is essentially immune to jamming, offering a much higher likelihood of completing its mission than alternatives.
## But risks emerge without human control
The system becomes riskier when completely cut off from communications, malfunctions, or fails to select the correct target without human oversight. These scenarios raise safety concerns.
## Regulators debate autonomous weapons rules
On September fifth, one hundred twenty-eight states party to the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons agreed on a non-binding text on lethal autonomous weapons after the United States and Russia pushed late changes.
## Advocates say protections were weakened
Nicole van Rooijen of Stop Killer Robots told Reuters that three years of work had been substantially diluted in the last hours, referring to changes in sections on human judgment and control.

> substantially diluted in the last hours
## The pressing question remains unanswered
Whether autonomous drones reach modern battlefields is increasingly likely as the Russia-Ukraine conflict becomes more reliant on autonomous machines. The key question is how such a drone decides if jammed without human oversight.
## Key takeaway

Scaleout Systems demonstrated an autonomous drone that selected and struck a target without human input during the mission, raising questions about AI weapons as regulators debate lethal autonomous systems.