Currently, Ukraine is engaged in a fierce confrontation with Russia for superiority in the use of drones. A loss in this confrontation, as noted by Kyiv Post analysts, could lead to a disaster.
What will happen to Ukraine if the Russian army gains an advantage in the use of drones
Analysts of the publication warn that the defeat of Ukraine in the pursuit of superiority in the use of drones may result in new territorial losses and losses of personnel and military equipment on the battlefield.
The authors of the material warn that the so-called "smart" UAVs based on artificial intelligence will give the occupation army of the Russian Federation an advantage on the battlefield over Western models of drones.
Journalists warn that Kremlin dictator Vladimir Putin may later use this advantage to attack the Baltic states.
At the same time, analysts sound the alarm, because in the face of a real threat, Western countries are in no hurry to help Ukraine with new modern UAVs.
It will be a disaster when the enemy begins to mass-produce drones... Military equipment at the front will become helpless. We don't have the funds to develop it quickly. This is a big problem. "Ukraine needs help," explains Dmytro Prodanyuk, co-founder of the Ukrainian non-profit drone production company Wild Hornets.
At the same time, the material emphasizes that the current situation poses a threat not only to Ukraine.
NATO ground forces have neither the capabilities nor the experience to operate on a battlefield full of drones... In a ground war with NATO, Russian drones will be overwhelming and will cause great damage, one of the Western military analysts declares.
When "smart" drones can appear on the battlefield in Ukraine
According to Prodanyuk, it is likely that smart drones will appear en masse in 6-12 months.
Ukraine announced plans to produce one million FPV drones this year.
At the same time, it is noted that most of the Ukrainian development of smart drones is largely based on crowdfunding.
At the same time, Western partners have not yet provided Ukraine with any significant assistance in this direction.
The West has provided Ukraine with a few drones, but only in small numbers, many of which have limited effectiveness.
Part of the problem appears to be that Western countries themselves are a generation or two behind in adapting their armed forces and weapons production to the new era of drone-centric warfare. Virtually no NATO member has its own fleet of air, land, or sea drones or significant drone production capabilities. No one has yet followed the example of Ukraine and created a separate drone unit in its armed forces with the aim of training thousands of drone pilots and forming drone units in almost every brigade, the publication says.
According to analyst Andrew Perpetua, Ukrainian FPVs and other aerial drones are responsible for 80 to 90% of detected losses of Russian equipment every day.
Military analysts say Ukraine currently leads Putin's forces in the number of successful drone strikes, but Russia is looking to catch up and the West has been slow to respond.
