Technology race

Ukraine to the Middle East: how drones are changing war

While many countries have previously relied on highly modern and in some cases armed reconnaissance drones, more and more kamikaze models with a relatively inexpensive design are being deployed.

(Bild: APA/AFP/Sergei SUPINSKY)

In the fall of 1916, battles raged in the trenches of the First World War. Under strict secrecy, the British used tanks for the first time in the Battle of the Somme. "Everyone was amazed when they saw this extraordinary monster crawling across the ground," recalls a contemporary witness in the podcast of the Imperial War Museum in London. Although the deployment did not lead to the hoped-for breakthrough at the time, the battlefields were changed forever.

Drone technology is likely to have revolutionized warfare in a similar way. While many countries have previously relied on ultra-modern and sometimes armed reconnaissance drones, more and more kamikaze models with a relatively inexpensive design are being used. The Iranian drones of the Shahed 136 type, for example, cruise through the air before crashing down on their targets and exploding. According to experts, however, warfare with drones is still at an early stage.

"As far as drones are concerned, we are still relatively close to the beginning when it comes to the question of deployment and design concepts," says military expert Fabian Hinz from the International Institute for Strategic Studies in Berlin. States have come about as far with drones as they did with tanks in the early 1920s. "Drones already work very well, but nobody really knows how best to use them. Perhaps the war in Ukraine has brought us a little further along."

The Iranians have tried to build cheap systems because they don't have a particularly good air force.

Fabian Hinz, Internationales Institut für Strategische Studien

The Iranian kamikaze drones in particular were perceived as a very special capability for quite some time. "The Iranians have tried to build cheap systems because they don't have a particularly good air force," explains Hinz. In the meantime, however, the concept of long-range kamikaze drones for use in the war in Ukraine has become mainstream. Other countries such as China are trying to copy this type of drone. And militias allied with Iran are also using drones to fly attacks on targets hundreds of kilometers away.

Drones instead of an expensive air force
For a long time, air superiority played a decisive role in conflicts. If one's own air force was superior, areas beyond the front lines were considered safe in old conflicts. "Drones, ballistic missiles and cruise missiles are changing this calculation," says Hinz. One example is the Houthi militia in Yemen, which has used drones to attack Saudi Arabia and, more recently, targets in the Red Sea since the start of the Gaza war. "The fact that they have such a long range and can carry out disruptive attacks is simply due to the fact that they now have these technologies."

Iran supplies Russia with cheap Shahede 136 kamikaze drones.

(Bild: APA/AFP/Sergei SUPINSKY)

Drones have long been one of the most important weapons in Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine. Every day, the warring parties fire at each other en masse with the unmanned aerial vehicles, which primarily challenge the air defenses on both sides - and destroy fewer targets. Again and again, debris from downed drones causes damage to homes, industrial buildings and power plants.

Race for new models
Both countries are experiencing a boom in inventions and manufacturers, and the number of different drones, companies and start-ups in this field is almost unmanageable. In Russia, for example, state media are raving about the popular drone Upyr (German: Blutsauger), which citizens and war correspondents have designed themselves without state subsidies - for around 500 euros a piece. There is now a veritable race to produce new, powerful drones, they say.

There are drones for the air, for the water; some that have small explosive devices, others that have larger ones with different speeds and ranges. Last but not least, many are used for military reconnaissance. There are always better new developments, says Russian military expert Andrey Klintsevich. "The more of them there are on the front line, the faster we get closer to victory."

The range of Ukrainian drone boats is long enough to carry out attacks on the Black Sea fleet in Crimea from the Ukrainian coast.

(Bild: United24)

Other military experts also emphasize that developments are primarily based on the needs on the front. Many things can be tested and adapted quickly in the combat zone. The missiles will also be equipped with night vision devices and artificial intelligence. In addition to drones that destroy military targets such as airfields or fuel depots, simple and cheap missiles will also be used, primarily to unload the enemy's air defenses, which are equipped with expensive missiles.

Videos show the effects of FPV drones
Both warring parties repeatedly publish clips of drones hitting tanks or killing individual soldiers in trenches. Hundreds of thousands of small FPV drones controlled by a person with video goggles, to which explosive devices are simply mounted or glued, have now been produced, while tens of thousands of heavy combat drones have been produced, according to Russian authorities.

Despite Western sanctions, finished drones or components are still being sent to Russia from China, for example, but also from other countries. The Minister of Industry and Trade, Denis Manturov, recently said that the government intends to spend the equivalent of one billion euros on drone development over the next three years. Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin had also hastily called for more efforts in this area.

Attacks in the Russian hinterland
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi also sees drones as a way to defeat Russia. He has set his defense industry the goal of producing at least one million of them this year. UJ-22 Airborne drones have recently penetrated deep into the Russian interior, one of which is said to have been shot down over the Kremlin last year. Drone attacks on targets far into the Russian hinterland recently caused a sensation in Ukraine. Whether the Sokil-300 (German: Falcon) combat and reconnaissance drone with a range of up to 3000 kilometers was used, which can even reach targets in Siberia, remained unclear at first.

Dozens of drones were also used in the massive attack by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards on Israel in mid-April, accompanied by missile strikes. Military expert Hinz assesses the attack as an attempt to overwhelm the defense systems with the mass of various systems. "The attack is at the very top of the spectrum of what they are capable of", explains Hinz. However, it did not produce the results that Tehran had hoped for. "When you launch such a massive attack that is successfully repelled, it reflects badly on your own deterrence capabilities."