{"id":24157,"date":"2025-05-08T19:23:09","date_gmt":"2025-05-08T16:23:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/?p=24157"},"modified":"2025-05-08T19:23:09","modified_gmt":"2025-05-08T16:23:09","slug":"fewer-soldiers-more-drones-the-future-face-of-warfare","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/?p=24157","title":{"rendered":"Fewer soldiers, More drones &#8211; The Future face of Warfare"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>In World War II it was radar, in Vietnam it was the first-generation night vision devices of the US military and now, in the ongoing war in Ukraine, drones are the reference point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Over the decades and for obvious reasons, deadly wars have inevitably given impetus to innovation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now the progress is geometric, as artificial intelligence is also included in the \u201cequation\u201d. Initially facing a much more powerful army in terms of means and forces, now in the midst of dramatic shortages in newly recruited combat soldiers, Kiev has methodically invested &#8211; apparently thanks to Western aid &#8211; in the development of technological capabilities on the battlefield.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At an increasing pace, Ukraine is producing hordes of deadly unmanned ground, sea and air systems. The goal is twofold: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>In the medium term, it is to deter Russian troops on the front lines of war.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>In the long term, it is to co-shape its post-war defense and security, but at the same time the conditions of armed conflicts in the -not-so-distant- future.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>In the works since last year and in full implementation by Kiev for at least two months now, is the design of coordinated mini &#8220;armies&#8221; of drones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The goal is for them to be thrown into battle en masse &#8211; on land, sea and air &#8211; to carry out aerial surveillance missions on the front line, to launch attacks on targets in enemy territory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Some are remotely controlled by specialists at a long distance, others &#8211; the newest generation &#8211; with advanced capabilities due to artificial intelligence, are now considered the big &#8220;bet&#8221; in the development of Ukraine&#8217;s defense industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Both during the war and after the war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>\u201cUnmanned Systems Forces\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ukraine is the first and only country today to have a special branch of its armed forces dedicated to unmanned systems. It is the \u201cUnmanned Systems Forces\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt is the first specialized military branch in the world that uses unmanned aerial vehicles, ground robotic systems and sea-based unmanned surface and underwater aircraft to perform a variety of tasks,\u201d the Ukrainian Defense Ministry says on its website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThey combine advanced technologies with modern asymmetric warfare strategies,\u201d it notes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cExperience proves that technological superiority, an integrated approach and innovation are the keys to successfully completing missions in this war.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In this year\u2019s annual report on global military capabilities, the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) reports that Ukraine\u2019s Unmanned Systems Forces have 5,000 members, with one special regiment and at least six battalions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Since February, special missions have been organized to showcase their capabilities to Western media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One of them involved the dress rehearsal of a new robotic platoon on an open battlefield in Kharkiv, in the northeast of the war-torn country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It was a coordinated operation of remote-controlled robots with tracks, heavy guns, the ability to carry explosives and the use of artificial intelligence for targeting, with the head of the operation having overall supervision via an aerial drone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ukrainian robotics companies are meanwhile jostling to develop advanced combat systems and secure contracts with the domestic army.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And the developments are apparently not going unnoticed by defense giants in Europe, such as Britain\u2019s BAE Systems and Germany\u2019s Rheinmetall, which now operate units in cooperation with Kiev on Ukrainian soil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The Changing Face of War<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One of the world\u2019s largest military powers, Russia has long since transformed its war economy and, with the help of its allies and technology \u2013 primarily from Iran \u2013 is now mass-producing long-range unmanned attack aircraft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Supported in return by the West, Ukraine is experiencing a rapid growth in domestic production of military-grade drones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At the start of the war, in February 2022, it is estimated that five companies were active in the sector. Today, it is estimated that there are more than 500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Initially, thanks mainly to a wide network of donations and later due to Western aid and a range of domestic measures \u2013 including deregulation \u2013 Kiev\u2019s drone production capacity now reaches around 200,000 per month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They include flying drone transponders to extend the range of kamikaze drones, as well as guiding drones with hair-thin optical fibers that are immune to Russian interference innovations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In wartime, this technological transformation helps to fill in part the huge gaps in manpower in the Ukrainian armed forces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In peacetime, the goal is to develop a domestic defense industry to bring investment and jobs to a devastated country, in economic and demographic crisis, which must have strong defense capabilities to prevent another war while it struggles to rebuild.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In World War II it was radar, in Vietnam it was the first-generation night vision devices of the US military and now, in the&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24158,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2362,2845,7],"tags":[3700,58,6892,1156,1976,2863],"class_list":["post-24157","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-military-science","category-military-strategy-doctrines","category-research","tag-drones","tag-russia","tag-soldiers","tag-ukraine","tag-war","tag-warfare"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24157","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24157"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24157\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24159,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24157\/revisions\/24159"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/24158"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24157"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24157"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}