NATO armies unprepared for drone wars, Ukraine commander warns

By Max Hunder

(Reuters) - NATO equipped forces are not acceptable for a modern drone war, the subject commandant successful complaint of Ukraine's unmanned systems warned, 3 years into a struggle with Russia successful which some sides are pushing for a technological edge.

Kyiv is striving to enactment up of the enemy, employing artificial intelligence, deploying much crushed drones and investigating lasers to bring down Russian unmanned aerial vehicles, said Colonel Vadym Sukharevskyi, caput of Ukraine's Unmanned Systems Forces.

Speaking successful a recently outfitted bureau for the precocious founded Unmanned Systems Forces, the determination of which Reuters was asked not to disclose, Sukharevskyi laid retired the leaps and bounds successful which drone warfare had precocious since the commencement of the penetration successful 2022, and the ways successful which it upended the established doctrines of war.

"From what I spot and hear, not a azygous NATO service is acceptable to defy the cascade of drones," Sukharevskyi told Reuters successful a caller interview.

He said NATO should recognise the economical vantage of drones, which often outgo acold little to physique than the accepted weaponry required to down them.

"It's conscionable simple mathematics. How overmuch does a rocket that shoots down a (Russian) Shahed (drone) cost? And however overmuch does it outgo to deploy a ship, a level and an aerial defence strategy to occurrence astatine it?"

Long-range drones tin outgo arsenic small arsenic respective 1000 dollars for the astir basal decoy models, though the Shahed onslaught drones person been estimated to outgo successful the tens of thousands. Air defence interceptor missiles usually person a six oregon 7 fig U.S.-dollar terms tag and galore countries lone support constricted stocks, frankincense making their usage highly uneconomical.

Sukharevskyi's comments travel arsenic immoderate NATO members successful Europe ramp up defence spending to hole for warfare should the Ukraine struggle resistance connected oregon escalate. With U.S. enactment for Ukraine and Europe wavering, those efforts person intensified.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine successful 2022, determination has been a immense enlargement successful drone use.

Ukraine says it made 2.2 cardinal tiny First Person View (FPV) drones and 100,000 larger, long-range ones successful 2024. Russia antecedently gave estimates that it would marque 1.4 cardinal FPV drones successful the aforesaid year.

"Right now, adjacent the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine says that much than 60% of targets are destroyed by drones," Sukharevskyi said.

"The lone question is however the tactics of their usage volition develop, and, pursuing connected from that, the technological aspect."

BATTLEFIELD EVOLVING

Russian attacks, often numbering much than 1 100 drones, person go a regular occurrence successful Ukraine.

They are conducted by a premix of Iranian-designed Shahed onslaught drones and overmuch cheaper, flimsier decoy models that tin usage up Ukraine's constricted stockpiles of aerial defence missiles.

Ukraine has utilized pickup trucks with mounted instrumentality guns and subject aviation to down drones much efficiently, and Kyiv is moving connected different options specified arsenic utilizing FPV interceptor drones and laser weapons.

Ukraine successfully changeable down fixed-wing drones successful investigating utilizing a laser, Sukharevskyi said, adding that the extremity was to rotation retired laser systems successful combat, though helium did not specify timelines.

Sukharevskyi said his units were present utilizing a mothership drone that could transportation 2 FPV drones up to 70 km (43 miles) earlier releasing them and acting arsenic a relay presumption for their communications.

He estimated that determination were thousands of unmanned crushed vehicles operating connected the frontlines, meaning less soldiers were needed to spell to unsafe areas for logistics oregon combat.

On the battlefield, some sides person adopted extended physics warfare arsenic they question to jam awesome links to drones successful the air, rendering accepted drones inoperable.

This has led to a roar successful drones utilizing automated targeting, which guides a drone to its people done artificial quality aft the aviator selects it done the drone's camera. However, the determination to onslaught indispensable beryllium made by a quality and not by AI, helium said.

Sukharevskyi believes astatine slightest fractional of Ukraine's frontline drone units are present utilizing specified systems to immoderate degree, and that the bulk of drones successful combat would yet extremity up utilizing this system.

Sukharevskyi conceded that Ukraine was not capable to afloat conscionable onslaught drone units' request for munitions, which are usually supplied separately to drones, but did not springiness further details.

He said immoderate units had begun making their own, with 1 brigade capable to marque 6,000-10,000 munitions per month.

"If it wasn’t for drones, everything would beryllium a batch worse. Drones are the things which let america to springiness an asymmetrical effect (when) the force is larger, stronger and connected the attack."

(Reporting by Max Hunder; Editing by Mike Collett-White and Sharon Singleton)