We are only beginning to understand the full potential of drone warfare. But they are having an impact at many levels, and drone technology keeps evolving.
Here is how drones are being used.
Battlefield Weapons
Drones have become significant battlefield weapons, so much so that today’s battlefield is saturated by drones, some of them specialized, many of them dirt cheap, and they are used by the tens of thousands, especially in Ukraine.
The most common type of battlefield drone is called first-person view (FPV). These are cheap drones that have explosive charges strapped onto them, typically old Russian antitank missile warheads (called RPG or rocket-propelled grenade, but typically the rocket is removed, leaving only a small but lethal shaped charge warhead). The FPV drone is controlled by an operator who either uses a laptop or tablet computer or has computer goggles that display what the drone “sees.” FPV drones have a small camera, typically the same cameras used in your cellphone. They are guided by GPS and transmit video to the human operator. He adjusts the drone’s trajectory to the target.
FPV drones are between $1,000 and $5,000. They can kill troops and destroy equipment, even modern battle tanks. Field reports from Ukraine, acknowledged both by the Ukrainians and Russians, say that it takes between 10 and 20 drone strikes to kill a tank. This sounds like a lot, but when a typical battle might involve a thousand drones, it is not much. In fact, drone battlefield warfare has become so effective that large units and armor can barely move before they are hit.
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