Hundreds of AI-controlled robots operating in unison, talking to each other to autonomously attack targets ¡ª a dystopian vision of the future of war that Ukraine's defense industry wants to make a reality.

Four years into the Russian invasion, the idea ¡ª known as drone swarms ¡ª is one of the hottest topics in military tech in a country that describes itself as the world-leader in drone warfare.

"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.