The evolution of drone warfare continues at pace in the crucible of conflict. From the Middle East, Ukraine or the Indo Pacific, you best be ready. ⬇️
Introducing the drone to combat has reshaped the way land forces fight. No man’s land is no longer something fixed ahead of the frontline. Electronic warfare must be ubiquitous to survive. Drone on drone combat is fast becoming the norm. The Conversation has a good short read on the democratisation of precision strike and its implications for the way war is fought:
“Short-range, one-way attack drones have redefined the front lines; long-range ones have changed what it means to wage war at strategic distances. Iran’s battlefield record – thousands of drones launched, air defenses nearing exhaustion across multiple targeted countries, American troops killed – demonstrates what a mid-tier military can achieve with precise mass.Any military that fails to invest in these capabilities – and in the ability to defend against them – places itself at risk.”
Ukraine and Russia are at the epicentre of the adaption battle in longest large war we’ve seen this century. What the Iran war shows is just how hard it is for militaries out of contact to harness the new technology and tactics in peace to be prepared for war. Many of the Middle East combatants are currently coping with unsustainable expenditure of high end munitions – but that is short term solution should the war be long and large.
As legacy militaries race to catch up or keep pace with the evolution of drone warfare it reminds us of a killer quote from Mike Kaufman, one of the more recognisable voices on the war in Ukraine. He dropped this assessment on the Revolution of Military Affairs podcast:
“If you don’t create drone units, you will not fight with drones. You can talk about buying drones all you want but if I can’t find the Drone Company in the Brigade you will not be fighting with drones – I assure you. If there’s no Drone Company, if there’s no Drone Battalion, if I can’t find manpower allocation, if I can’t find organisational capacity that has that as their mission… you can buy 2 million drones tomorrow but who in the organisation is going to fight with them.”
Evolutions like Ukraine’s interceptors, Russia’s evolved Shaheds, fly by fibre optic and first person view drones have been quickly scaled and rapidly improved. The cost of long range precise strike has rapidly declined as drone solutions do what only a million dollar missile could do a decade ago. There is no time to waste in evolving to be ready and resilient to pervasive and persistent drone threats.
📷 via AP and links to each article referenced are in the comments.