No conventional weapon alone can win a war. But, as the history of large-scale military confrontations teaches, there are times when a turn occurs that determines the obsolescence of tactics and weapons that seemed unquestionable and the emergence of others that require changing very consolidated guidelines. And without Ukraine being the first scenario in which drones have made an appearance, it seems unquestionable that, especially looking at the way in which the Ukrainian armed forces are using them, they are called to bring about drastic changes on both the tactical and strategic planes.
Three of the most solid axioms on which an operation like the one Russia launched on February 24 is based are the need to impose air dominance, have a logistical capacity that allows us to fuel the offensive relentlessly and have armored and mechanized means in sufficient quantity to take advantage of air and artillery cover to progress quickly and occupy the territory that is intended to control. Despite its remarkable superiority of means, Russia has never managed to dominate the Ukrainian skies, its logistics have been deplorable and it has not won ground battles in the open field. And much of the responsibility for that situation lies the growing and intelligent use of drones, armed or not, of a very varied type by kyiv.
At the beginning of the Russian invasion, kyiv had only a dozen Turkish TB2 Bayraktar Armed Drones, acquired in 2019 at an estimated cost of one million dollars per unit. Today, between donations and acquisitions, it is estimated that it already has more than a thousand dedicated to very diverse uses. Many are, originally, unmanned aerial vehicles for civil use, but in practice, and with the necessary adaptations, they serve for tasks ranging from intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions to the delivery of vaccines and medicines, search and rescue services… But where their role as force multipliers becomes more important is in combat missions.
In this field, the TB2 are also joined by the Americans Switchblade 300 and 600 kamikaze drones launched from a tube that, with a cost of no more than 10,000 dollars, can destroy armor, artillery pieces or enemy anti-aircraft systems in the front line, but also targets in the rear with high precision.
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Between his considerable advantages stand out ease of use -compared to the complexity and time it takes to train a missile system pilot or servant-, the low cost -especially when compared to the number of weapon systems it can destroy (a tank can cost around 10 million dollars)- and its versatility– even for use in local combat, being able to fly at speeds and altitudes unthinkable for planes and helicopters.
Of course, they are not indestructible – in fact, given their low weight and limited load capacity, they have practically no armor – and There are already endless countermeasures to try to nullify its operation. But even so – and assuming that at a higher level, to which Ukraine has not yet reached, there are other more powerful drones, such as theAmerican MQ-1 Gray Eagle or MQ-9 Reaper-it is immediate to understand that they not only call into question the role of battle tanks or attack planes and helicopters, but the very essence of the art of war.