NATO armed forces are not ready for a modern drone war, the military commander in charge of Ukraine’s unmanned systems warned.
Three years into a conflict with Russia in which both sides are pushing for a technological edge, Kyiv is striving to stay ahead of the enemy, employing artificial intelligence and deploying more ground drones, said Colonel Vadym Sukharevskyi, head of Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces.
Sukharevskyi laid out the leaps and bounds in which drone warfare had advanced since the start of the invasion in 2022, and the ways in which it upended the established doctrines of war.
“From what I see and hear, not a single NATO army is ready to resist the cascade of drones,” Sukharevskyi told Reuters in a recent interview.
He said NATO should recognise the economic advantage of drones, which often cost far less to build than the conventional weaponry required to down them.
Long-range drones can cost as little as several thousand dollars for the most basic decoy models, although the Shahed strike drones have been estimated to cost in the tens of thousands.
Air defence interceptor missiles usually have a six or seven figure U.S.-dollar price tag and many countries only keep limited stocks, thus making their use highly uneconomical.
Sukharevskyi’s comments come as some NATO members in Europe ramp up defence spending to prepare for war should the Ukraine conflict drag on or escalate.
With U.S. support for Ukraine and Europe wavering, those efforts have intensified.
Russian attacks on Ukraine, often numbering more than one hundred drones, have become a regular occurrence in Ukraine.
They are conducted by a mix of Iranian-designed Shahed strike drones and much cheaper, flimsier decoy models that can use up Ukraine’s limited stockpiles of air defence missiles.
Sukharevskyi said his units were now using a mothership drone that could carry two FPV drones up to 70 km (43 miles) before releasing them and acting as a relay station for their communications.
He estimated that there were thousands of unmanned ground vehicles operating on the frontlines, meaning fewer soldiers were needed to go to dangerous areas for logistics or combat.
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