Feature Post

By 8th-Grade Blogger Max Pretorius

Ever since World War II, military tactics have remained the same. Tanks and aircraft carriers have dominated the land and sea. But that is changing, and the question is, will the United States be able to adapt to these changing tactics? Modern wars like that of Ukraine have taught us that tanks are no longer useful. A new competitor arises: the drone.

How Drones Destroyed the Era of the Tank

Tanks are large and expensive machines that have proven to be good against infantry and each other. Tanks use their thick armor to defend themselves from the small arms used by infantry and counterattack using mounted machine guns or other weaponry. Tanks also use long barrels to attack other high-armor vehicles. 

Drones are great at countering these tanks. Drones are inexpensive flying machines that are able to drop explosives and fire guns. What makes drones so powerful is that you can get ten, inexpensive, $500 drones and destroy a multi-million dollar tank with them (businessinsider.com). Tanks are just no longer useful due to how easily they can be destroyed by a couple drones.

How the Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict Taught Us about Drones

The Second Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict was the first post-modern war. It was a conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan. The conflict was in 2020 and was a decisive Azerbaijani victory. This was due to the use of Israeli and Turkish drone technology. By using this technology, they were able to win the war in 44 days (militarystrategymagazine.com). They did this by using the drones to pummel all Armenian defenses. The Israeli drones in particular were very interesting as they were dubbed “suicide drones” because they would explode themselves to destroy enemy targets (besacenter.org). Interestingly, the first Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict was an Armenian victory due to the use of tanks and other conventional weaponry.

The Use of Drones In Ukraine

Ukraine has been somewhat of a military testing playground for the west against Russian forces. We’ve learned a lot about modern-day warfare from Ukraine. In particular, we’ve learned about drones. Ukraine has been producing an astounding 4 million drones per year (kyivpost.com). To put that into perspective, Russia, with the biggest tank force in the world, had ~3,000 operational tanks and ~13,500 armored fighting vehicles (AFVs) (army.mil).Those are miniscule numbers compared to the millions of Ukrainian drones being produced every year. 

Due primarily to Ukrainian drones, Russia has lost 4,030 tanks and 8,833 AFVs (army.mil). This means that Russia has lost so many tanks that they have resorted to using non-operational tanks in storage. It just comes to show how pivotal drones have been in the war, attacking naval ships, infrastructure, infantry, tanks, and other strategic targets.

The Use of Anti-Drone Technology

The war has also brought anti-drone technology. Ukraine in particular has been using two main technologies to intercept drones: the sting and the MEROPS drone system. The sting is a Ukrainian-designed drone that is great at intercepting other drones. It can fly up to 280 km per hour (reuters.com). The sting is such a good and cheap drone that many Middle Eastern countries are interested in purchasing the drones to defend themselves against Iran (reuters.com). Ukraine has also been using the MEROPS. The MEROPS is an American-made, ai-powered, drone defense system (militarnyi.com). It works with radar to send out interceptor drones to attack other drones; each drone costs about $14,500 (militarnyi.com). Ukraine has also been installing nets on their roads to protect them against Russian drones (nytimes.com).

Conclusion

Ukraine has taught us that warfare is going to change forever. Gone are the days of tank offensives and frontline attacks. Modern warfare is being fought with drones, millions of them.