Drone warfare is making infantry obsolete
AI Analysis
The war in Ukraine demonstrates a fundamental shift in modern warfare, where drones now dominate the battlefield and account for the vast majority of casualties. Traditional infantry tactics are becoming obsolete due to constant surveillance and the proliferation of FPV and AI-powered drones. This necessitates a re-evaluation of military doctrine and investment in counter-drone technologies and individual soldier protection.
Key Takeaways
- Drone warfare has fundamentally altered infantry tactics, moving away from maneuver warfare principles.
- The Ukrainian front is characterized by pervasive surveillance, making movement in the open extremely dangerous.
- FPV drones are being used extensively for direct targeting of individual soldiers, resulting in extremely high casualty rates.
- AI-powered 'loitering munition' drones are reportedly in use, capable of autonomous target acquisition.
- Reported Russian casualties in April 2026 (35,000) are exceptionally high, exceeding historical combat losses for major armies.
Why It Matters
This shift indicates a need for rapid adaptation in military doctrine, training, and equipment. Investment in advanced camouflage, counter-UAS systems, and potentially, decentralized, highly-protected individual soldier systems will be crucial for maintaining combat effectiveness. The Ukrainian conflict serves as a critical case study for future warfare planning.
Drone warfare is making infantry obsolete
Drones now account for the vast majority of casualties Credit: Angelika Warmuth/REUTERS
Published 07 May 2026 3:46pm BST
The war in Ukraine has been fought for just over four years, but in that short time the evolution of the nature of warfare has been generational.
Before the conflict, the principles of fighting as an infantry platoon had not changed significantly since the Second World War. Indeed, the wider concept of manoeuvre warfare, in which infantry work in tandem with air, tanks and artillery to punch through enemy weak spots, was broadly set in stone for just as long.
Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan saw tactical tweaks made to counter theatre-specific threats, particularly from improvised explosive devices, but these changes were refinements to patrolling techniques developed by the British Army over several decades in Northern Ireland. They were modifications to match the threat. The core principles and tactics of fighting when under fire remained unchanged.
The opening phases of the Ukraine war largely adhered to manoeuvre warfare principles, with the effective use of the equipment gifted to Kyiv; tanks, armoured personnel carriers, tracked artillery.
But the introduction and rapid spiral development of the drone since then represents a sea-change in infantry tactics, now accounting for the vast majority of casualties in a way that is still alien to our doctrinal approach.
The Ukrainian front today is a 10-mile-wide, 750-mile-long zone covered in sensors where anything that moves in the open is dead within minutes. It has necessitated advances in thermal and spectral camouflage to address those vulnerabilities. Platoon and section-level movement has been replaced by cautious pairs or individuals evading detection. The very essence of what the infantry prides itself on – speed, aggression, momentum – verges on obsolescence.
On Tuesday, Mykhailo Fedorov, the Ukrainian defence minister, posted a video on social media that brutally highlighted the horror of warfare today. It was a montage of Ukrainian first-person-view drone footage individually targeting Russian soldiers, each very much aware of their looming fate; some trying to outrun the drone, some bracing for the explosion, some simply begging to be spared. As a former infantry officer, it is a world away from anything I experienced in Iraq or Afghanistan. It is a brutal and harrowing watch.
The caption summarises the potency of this type of warfare. It claims that 35,000 Russian soldiers have been killed in April alone. That number is approximately 50 per cent of the regular British Army, and nearly seven times the number of troops the Army has lost in combat across all operations since 1945.
Ukraine is a bellwether for the direction of travel for modern warfare. With reports of AI-powered one-way attack drones already in use, flying and acquiring targets of opportunity according to their own target set, the future is already here.