The armed forces of NATO countries are not ready for modern drone warfare, the commander of Ukrainian units handling unmanned systems, Colonel Vadim Sukharevskiy, said three years after the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and at a time when both sides in the conflict are striving for technological superiority, Reuters reported, BTA reported.
Kiev is seeking to get ahead of its enemy by using artificial intelligence, deploying more ground-based drones and testing lasers to shoot down Russian drones, he added.
The colonel described the pace at which drone warfare is developing and the way it is changing established military doctrines.
"From what "What I see and hear is that no NATO army is ready to deal with drones attacking in waves," he said in an interview.
According to him, NATO should recognize the economic advantages of drones, which often cost far less than the conventional weapons needed to take them down.
"It's just basic math. How much does a missile cost to shoot down (a Russian drone) "Shahed"? And how much does it cost to deploy a ship, a plane and an air defense system to shoot at it?", the Ukrainian colonel asked.
Long-range drones of the most basic models can cost only a few thousand dollars, although "Shahed" attack drones are valued at five figures. Missiles for intercepting flying objects usually cost six or seven figures and many countries maintain limited stocks, making their use highly uneconomical, Reuters notes.
Ukraine says it has produced 2.2 million small unmanned aerial vehicles of the "first-person view" type and 100,000 larger drones with long ranges by 2024. Russia earlier said it would produce 1.4 million "first-person view" type drones in the same year.
"At the moment, even the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian armed forces says that more than 60% of targets are destroyed by drones," Sukharevskiy stressed. "The only question is how the tactics of their use will develop, and accordingly the technological aspect," he added.