Death drones: Frank Ledwidge on why the Ukraine war will cause a boom in UAV technology

Imagine you are injured on a battlefield. You are surrounded by sounds of gunfire and battle. Another soldier, with the armband of a combat medic, has injected you with something, easing the pain. They are tapping something into a tablet on their arm and speaking into it. Within a few minutes you hear a loud humming sound as something hovers over you. Two medics move you into a harness and you are lifted above the ground into the aircraft hovering three metres above; VR goggles are placed over your eyes and earphones over your ears. The noise of battle goes and you see a friendly but determined face appear before you in the VR goggles and a soothing voice says ‘you are now being removed by CASEVAC drone, here is what is going to happen…’. There may be soothing scenes or even music played. In fifteen minutes, the goggles are removed and you are now in a quiet surgical room. The face reappears, this time in the flesh and says ‘you are safe now’. This is the future of CASEVAC (battlefield casualty evacuation), [note to translator, there will be a Russian term equivalent to CASEVAC].

The technology just described already exists. This is just one way in which drone technology will be altering the way wars are fought. Of course, we usually think of how drones can kill people more efficiently. Sadly, this is the last you will read in this article about them saving lives in war. The correct term for military drones (and the one preferred by many experts) is ‘Uncrewed Combat Aerial Vehicle’ (UCAV). Most people, in and out of the military, call them drones. The difference between drones and missiles is that drones have some form of external control, whereas missiles are pre-programmed or ‘guided’. [Note to translator: I don’t know the Russian equivalent of UCAV, but there will be one).

In war, each side learns from the other and development speeds up. We are seeing the Ukraine war accelerate drone development in a similar way. The Ukrainian armed forces began their effective use of drones with the famous Bayraktar TB2 conducting accurate strikes on Russian vehicles. The Russians soon learned to shoot these down (although they are still being used). Then smaller drones designed for the civilian market were used by Ukrainian troops to guide artillery, in combination with secure satellite communications supplied from the Starlink system. The Russians do the same – although using their own communications. Thousands of Chinese-made small drones now dominate the air over the ‘zero line’ causing havoc either directly by dropping grenades, or indirectly, by guiding artillery or mortar fire. All soldiers, on both sides, are painfully conscious that they may be watched.