The Future of Drone Tech: Russian Scale

Peter Zeihan 5 min

There is no way that Ukrainians are anywhere close to getting any degree of control over their airspace. If the Ukrainians do manage to launch a ground assault, they're going to be doing so under a hail of glide bombs because they can't really do much about it.

Chapters

  1. 0:00

    Russian Drone Evolution

    Russia is adapting drone technology by adding jet engines to existing platforms, significantly increasing their speed and threatening Ukrainian air defenses. Russian drones now travel at 400 miles per hour, making them too fast for most Ukrainian interceptors to catch.

  2. 2:17

    Air Superiority Gap

    Despite Ukrainian advances, they still lack control over their own airspace and cannot stop Russian glide bombs effectively. Russia mounts anti-aircraft missiles on drones, forcing Ukrainian aircraft to face cheap disposable threats instead of traditional fighters.

  3. 2:48

    Inevitable Ground Assault

    As long as Russia maintains air dominance with these drones, any Ukrainian ground assault will be met with relentless glide bomb attacks.

Key points

  • 0:00

    Most battlefield breakthroughs since March have been Ukrainian.

  • 0:00

    Russia possesses a powerful military industrial complex.

  • 0:00

    Russian drones now use jet engines for propulsion.

  • 0:00

    New Russian drones travel at 400 miles per hour.

  • 0:00

    Ukrainian interceptors cannot catch the fast-moving drones.

  • 0:00

    Interceptors often fail when they cannot catch up to targets.

  • 0:00

    Ukraine lacks control over its own airspace.

  • 2:17

    Russia mounts anti-aircraft missiles on drones.

  • 2:48

    Drones can fire missiles while carrying no warhead.

  • 2:48

    Ukraine faces waves of cheap disposable drone attacks.

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