Ukraine's drone war showed the West it needs to view small drones less like prized gear and more like expendable ammo

"Maj. Rachel Martin, the director of the US Army's new drone lethality course, told Business Insider that the conflict shows that "if you're going to flood the zone with drones," especially in a combat situation where electronic warfare is heavy, "you're going to lose a lot of drones." She said it's a "transition from the army of old," where a lost drone was "a significant emotional event" that was reported to senior leadership. In Ukraine, it's different. "Drones go down all the time." There, losses are typically shrugged off, rather than investigated."

"Lt. Col. Ben Irwin-Clark, the commanding officer of the British Army's 1st Battalion of the Irish Guards, told Business Insider that his battalion has changed its training to allow drones to be damaged or even destroyed to reflect battlefield realities. "I absolutely think they need to be disposable because otherwise you're not training realistically," he said."

"Jakub Jajcay, a former special forces member from Slovakia who fought in Ukraine, told Business Insider that if NATO militaries want to start using drones for real missions, they "need to get used to the fact that they're basically expendable material more akin to ammunition or fuel or gasoline, things like that, rather than specialized high-end pieces of equipment that need to be looked after.""

Large-scale drone use in Ukraine is changing military doctrine and training toward mass, attritable employment. Forces now plan to send many low-cost drones forward, expecting heavy losses in contested electronic-warfare environments. Training has adjusted to permit drone damage and destruction so troops learn realistic tactics and accept routine attrition. Commanders and veterans describe a cultural shift from treating drones as specialized, recoverable assets to viewing them more like ammunition or fuel that are consumed during operations. That mindset prioritizes swarm tactics, redundancy, and cost-effective procurement to sustain high-tempo drone campaigns.

Read at Business Insider