Hundreds of AI-controlled robots operating in unison, talking to each other to autonomously attack targets -- a dystopian vision of the future of war that Ukraine’s defence industry wants to make a reality. Four years into the Russian invasion, the idea -- known as drone swarms -- is one of the hottest topics in military tech in a country that describes itself as the world-leader in drone warfare.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official. “There is a huge interest,” military expert Yury Fedorenko told a recent Drone Autonomy conference, held in an undisclosed location in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv. “No matter who you speak to, they always say: show them to us. Where are they, we want to see!” he added. The conference was organised by Iron Cluster, a coalition of defence groups operating out of Lviv. The prospect of drone swarms, groups of drones that can act together and fulfil set tasks without human intervention, has triggered both anxiety and excitement. “We’ve been talking about swarm technology for a very long time, and we in the military have been waiting for it even longer,” said Volodymyr “Colt”, the head of civil-military cooperation at Ukraine’s 412th brigade. “The only question is when it will happen,” he added. Ukrainian military and defence industry figures told AFP Kyiv had made progress in getting the much-hyped technology off the ground. Others cautioned it remains some way off and that drone swarms were just one part -- albeit an eye-catching one -- of the much broader race toward autonomous warfare.