From Russia to the Middle East: How drones are changing warfare

It is autumn 1916. In the trenches of the First World War, there are heavy losses and deadlocked battles. In 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 floor,” recalls a contemporary witness voice in the podcast from the Imperial War Museum in London. Although the operation did not lead to the hoped-for breakthrough, the battlefields were changed forever.

Similarly, drone technology may have revolutionized warfare. While many countries have so far relied on ultra-modern and partly armed reconnaissance drones, more and more kamikaze models with relatively inexpensive designs are being used. The Iranian Shahed 136 drones, for example, cruise through the air before falling on their targets and exploding. However, according to experts, warfare with drones is still at an early stage.

Expert: Drone technology in early stage warfare

“As far as drones are concerned, we are still relatively close to the beginning when it comes to the question of operational and design concepts,” says military expert Fabian Hinz from the International Institute for Strategic Studies in Berlin. States are about as advanced with drones as they were with tanks in the early 1920s. “Drones already work very well, but no one really knows how best to use them. Maybe we’re a little further along from the war in Ukraine now.”

The Iranian kamikaze drones in particular were perceived as having a very special capability for quite a while. “The Iranians tried to build cheap systems because they don’t have a particularly good air force,” explains Hinz. However, the concept of long-range kamikaze drones for use in the war in Ukraine has now become mainstream. Other countries such as China are trying to copy this type of drone. And militant groups allied with Iran also use drones to carry out attacks on targets hundreds of kilometers away.

Air superiority has long played a crucial role in conflicts. If one’s own air force was superior, areas beyond the front lines in old conflicts were considered safe. “Drones, ballistic missiles and cruise missiles change this calculation,” says Hinz. One example is the Houthi militia in Yemen, which has attacked Saudi Arabia and recently also targets in the Red Sea with drones since the beginning of the Gaza war. “The fact that they have such long range and the ability to carry out disruptive attacks is simply a result of having these technologies now.”

Drones are one of the most important weapons in the Ukraine war

Drones have long been one of the most important and omnipresent weapons in Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. Every day, the warring parties fire at each other en masse with unmanned missiles, which primarily challenge the anti-aircraft defenses on both sides – and destroy fewer targets. Debris from downed drones often causes damage to residential buildings, industrial buildings and energy systems.

Both countries are experiencing a boom in inventions and manufacturers; the number of different drones, companies and start-ups in this area is hardly manageable. In Russia, state media are also raving about the popular drone Upyr (German: bloodsucker), which citizens and war correspondents designed themselves without government subsidies – for around 500 euros each. It is said that there is now a real race to produce new, powerful drones.

There are drones for the air, for the water; some that are small, others that have larger explosive devices 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 Andrei Klintsevich. “The more of them there are on the front, the faster we get closer to victory.”

Quick tests possible in the combat zone

Other military experts also emphasize that developments are primarily based on the needs at the front. Many things can be quickly tested and adjusted 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 are also needed, which are primarily intended to unload the enemy’s air defense system, which is equipped with expensive rockets.

Both warring parties repeatedly publish clips of drones hitting tank technology or killing individual soldiers in trenches. Hundreds of thousands of small FPV drones controlled by a person wearing video glasses, to which explosive devices are simply mounted or glued, are now being produced, and tens of thousands of heavy combat drones are being produced, as Russian authorities report.

Despite Western sanctions, finished drones or components come to Russia from China, but also from other countries. The Minister of Industry and Trade, Denis Manturov, recently said that the government wanted to spend the equivalent of one billion euros on drone development over the next three years. Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin also hastily called for more efforts here.

Zelenskyj: One million drones as an annual goal

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj also sees drones as a path to victory over Russia. He set his arms industry the goal of producing at least a million of them this year. UJ-22 Airborne drones 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 deep in the Russian hinterland recently caused a stir in Ukraine. It initially remained unclear whether the combat and reconnaissance drone Sokil-300 (German: Falke) with a range of up to 3,000 kilometers and which can even reach targets in Siberia was used.

Dozens of drones, accompanied by rocket strikes, were also used in the massive attack by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards on Israel in mid-April. Military expert Hinz assesses the attack as an attempt to overwhelm the defense systems with the mass of different systems. “The attack is high on the spectrum of what they are capable of,” explains Hinz. But it did not bring the results that Tehran had hoped for. “When you carry out such a massive attack and it is successfully repelled, it reflects poorly on your own deterrence capabilities.”