January 6, 2025: Last year Ukraine established the Unmanned Systems Force or USF. Ukraine built 1.5 million drones in 2024 and a smaller number in 2025 because more long range drones were needed. This organization does not control the drones Ukrainian forces use regularly but instead develops new drone models and organizes mass production for those new models that are successful. NATO countries are producing drones and sending them to Ukraine. Drones have been an unexpected development that had a huge impact on how battles in Ukraine's current war are fought. Drones were successful because they were cheap, easily modified, and expendable.

The longer range drones enable Ukraine to strike targets deep inside Russia. These attacks now include drones dropping guided bombs from one kilometer altitude. This way the bombs can glide for long distances and strike Russian targets unexpectedly.

All this has been catastrophic for Russia, which denies that the Ukrainian drones are doing much damage and that Russia shoots most of them down. The truth, as revealed by satellite photos, and FPV videos released by Ukraine and some Russian soldiers shows major damage inside Russia. On the internet, WhatsApp sometimes shows these attacks in real time.

Both Russian and Ukrainian forces are sending in quadcopter drones controlled by soldiers using FPV/First Person Viewing goggles to see what the day/night video camera on the drone can see. Most FPV drones carry half a kilogram of explosives, so it can instantly turn the drone into a flying bomb that can fly into a target and detonate. This is an awesome and debilitating weapon when used in large numbers over the combat zone. If a target isn’t moving or requires more explosive power that the drones can supply, one of the drone operators can call in artillery, rocket, or missile fire, or even an airstrike. Larger, fixed wing drones are used for long range operations against targets over a thousand kilometers inside Russia.

A major limitation to the expansion of drone operations was the need for trained drone operators. These operators need dozens of hours of training before they are able to start operating these drones, and even more hours of actual use before they are able to make the most out of the system.

These small drones are able to complete their missions most of the time, whether it is a one-way attack or a reconnaissance and surveillance mission. The recon missions are usually survivable and enable the drone to be reused. All these drones are constantly performing surveillance, which means that both sides commit enough drones to maintain constant surveillance over a portion of the front line, to a depth, into enemy territory, of at least a few kilometers.

This massive use of FPV-armed drones has revolutionized warfare in Ukraine and both sides are producing as many as they can. Earlier in the Ukraine War Russia used Iranian Shahed-136 drones that Iran sold for about $200,000 each. Ukraine demonstrated that you could design and build drones with similar capabilities at less than a tenth of what the Shahed-136 cost. The Iranian drone was more complex than it needed to be and even the Russians soon realized this and turned from the Shahed-136 for more capable drones they copied from Ukrainian designs or original Russian designs.

Ukrainian drone proliferation began when many individual Ukrainians, or small teams of them, designed and built drones. The drones served as potential candidates for widespread use and mass production. This proliferation of designers and manufacturers led to rapid evolution of drone capabilities and uses. Those who could not keep up were less successful in combat and suffered higher losses. Each month several hundred thousand drones are built in Ukrainian factories or home workshops,

Military leaders in other nations have noted this and are scrambling to equip their own forces with drones. Not having enough of these to match the number the enemy has in a portion of the front means you are at a serious disadvantage in that area. These drones are still evolving in terms of design and use and are becoming more effective and essential.

One countermeasure that often works for a while is electronic jamming of the drones control signal. Drone guidance systems are constantly modified or upgraded to cope with this. Most drones have flight control software that sends drones with jammed control signals back to where they took off from to land for later use. The jammers are on the ground and can be attacked by drones programmed to home in on the jamming signal. Countermeasures can be overcome and the most popular one is to control a drone via a fiber optic cable.

Despite being a successful high-tech operation, American air forces, especially the Navy and USAF, frequently have trouble adjusting to changes they do not agree with. When the Cold War ended in 1991 the air force was still largely thinking about continuing to operate as they had done in the Cold War, but the technology and tactics of warfare were changing. The post-Cold War enemy no longer consisted of large, organized forces spread over huge areas. The enemy was increasingly irregulars who were harder to spot from the air. The air force reluctantly adapted, in part because the army and CIA adopted new reconnaissance and surveillance techniques like drones and persistent surveillance. This pattern is returning as the air force reorganizes after the decade of heavy combat and big budgets the war on terror produced. Now the air force is turning its attention to a near-peer opponent in the form of a rapidly expanding and modernizing Chinese military.

Unexpectedly the Ukraine War emerged first with Russia and Ukraine fighting each other. Ukrainians had the advantage of material and intellectual support from NATO countries. In the end the winner of any stage of the war was the side that was the most resourceful and innovative. This process has been present in warfare for centuries but during the last century the changes and innovations came so quickly that the process was visible. This disrupted the long-established missions each of the military services had established. Israeli forces are now using a variety of drones in combat that are similar to what the Ukrainians are using. The United States is equipping its infantry with more drones for reconnaissance and attack. American troops began using drones over twenty years ago and are now using more of them because of the heavy usage in Ukraine.

NATO countries are producing drones and sending them to Ukraine. Drones have been an unexpected development that had a huge impact on how battles in the Ukraine’s current war are fought. Drones were successful because they were cheap, easily modified, and expendable.