At the LANDEURO 2025 defense exhibition/conference held on July 16-17 in Wiesbaden, Germany, one of the most interesting presentations was that of Robert “Madyar” (Hungarian) Brovdi, who recently took over as head of the Ukrainian Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Corps. The latter was established in June 2024 as a separate branch of the Armed Forces, largely unifying the relevant special units of the other branches (although some, more specialized ones remain independent of it).
Brovdi, a former businessman, before his promotion, was the head of such a unit, “Madyar’s Birds” which he had founded and financed since 2022.
- In his speech, Brovdi was adamant that the battlefield has changed radically, overturning decades-old doctrines. As he said, the Ukrainian Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Corps, while constituting only 2% of the personnel of the Armed Forces, causes one third of Russian casualties and manages 25% of the strikes on the front!
- He explained that there is currently no tank internationally that can resist FPV drones, which cost 300-500 dollars each.
- Today, as he said, drones create a “kill zone”, that is, a high-risk area, 25-30 kilometers wide on the front.
- He admitted that Russia has also achieved such developments in the field. He said characteristically, that “when Putin said he would send us 100 Shahed a day, we laughed. Now we are not laughing, as we receive over 400 a day”. And he invited the audience to say, which European city would resist if it was bombed with 500 Shahed a day.
- So, he concluded, “your (European) national defense plans need to be changed and updated.”
- Giving an example, he said that on a previous trip outside Ukraine, he had been to a large NATO base (he did not specify which one). And he was informed about its defenses, while the people in charge there asked him to evaluate them. And he replied, “4 of my drone teams, at a distance of 10 kilometers, destroy it in 15 minutes, you will experience a new Pearl Harbor.”
- Brovdi explained that he was not saying this to intimidate the audience, but to explain that drone technology is now so cheap and easily applicable that “10 terrorists can change everything with it.” Therefore, adopting the Ukrainian experience “for which we have paid with blood” is necessary and “we offer it to you.”
- It was interesting that, as he analyzed, 95% of the personnel of the Unmanned Corps of Ukraine are civilians, that is, they were not professional soldiers. However, the organization of these specific units is based on the patriotism of the personnel, but also on great flexibility. Thus, “anyone can be promoted who presents an innovation” and any talent and specialization that each person brings from their political life is utilized.
The above statements, through a long-term experience (already) of this, but also all the reports coming from the Ukrainian fronts, from both sides, show not only the dominance of drones at all levels, but also the production of new war doctrines and tactics that are based almost exclusively on them.
The Ukrainians have now increased their annual production to millions of unmanned (small-sized) drones, which are “spent” by the thousands per day, maintaining defense along a front that exceeds 1,000 kilometers long, the Russians are constantly increasing their own production, and both sides are competing in innovation and in a few days to deal with whatever new thing their opponent has invented. Thus, the construction, programming, equipment of drones, their use, their combination, are all rapidly evolving and, above all, their use is particularly deadly, neutralizing from simple infantry to heavy weapons, artillery, telecommunications, radar systems, command centers, offering an image from everywhere, continuous information collection and mapping of the field in every square meter.
With these developments, there can only be great concern about how effective the extremely expensive weapons systems, worth many millions of euros, of all categories continue to be. Which are not canceled but are clearly “undermined” in their performance, by the waves of drones that either pursue them, or can replace them, much more economically, and without risk to personnel.
While the same concern should be raised by the insistence on war doctrines and tactics that do not include drones, not as “another weapon”, but as a central element of conducting operations. Brovdi, in fact, at the end of his speech, mentioned that a new drone doctrine has been created in Ukraine, which must be adopted, otherwise “you will have to answer to your children”.
