Western Weapons Do Not Meet the Demands of Modern Warfare - The Economist 0 13

Advanced American technologies have proven ineffective in the context of a full-scale war against a comparable opponent. This has become evident in the realities of the Russia-Ukraine war, but it seems that conclusions have yet to be drawn in the West. This is noted by The Economist.

The publication points out that the loitering munitions Switchblade were once considered cutting-edge weapons. "Fast, smart, and precise, they were indispensable equipment for special forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. But when a batch of Switchblade-300s arrived in Ukraine in 2022, high hopes quickly dissipated," the article states.

Firstly, the American drones were too expensive. Secondly, they faced issues with Russian electronic warfare systems. Thirdly, even when they hit their targets, they caused minimal damage.

"When one of them hit the rear window of a minibus, the front windows didn’t even shatter," recalls Ukrainian military drone developer Valeriy Borovyk.

As The Economist writes, over more than three years of full-scale war in Ukraine, many Western companies have tried to showcase their drones in real combat conditions, but most have only embarrassed themselves. In contrast, Ukrainian companies, which once sought to emulate Western developers, have now become leaders in the sector of modern unmanned weaponry.

According to Mr. Borovyk, today "no more than 20-30%" of the technologies on the battlefield in Ukraine are Western. The reasons are not only that production in Ukraine is cheaper than in the West. It is also that Ukrainian companies are in every sense "closer" to the front and better understand what fighters need, what will work, and what will not.

"If you have never seen the sea, how can you make a good boat?" rhetorically asks Vadym Yunik, head of Tech Force in UA, a consortium of Ukrainian defense companies.

There is also a more fundamental difference in the doctrines of the defense industries of Ukraine and the West. Western defense giants focus on producing small quantities of expensive, high-tech weapons that perform well in low-intensity wars against weak opponents. However, the total Russia-Ukraine war has shown that in high-intensity confrontations between two modern and comparable opponents, it is more important to have many cheap weapons than a handful of high-tech and expensive ones. The "spam" of disposable munitions has proven to be extremely effective.

Interestingly and alarmingly, NATO countries seem to have yet to recognize the new realities of war. Having agreed to raise their defense spending to 5% of GDP, they continue to funnel increased budgets into technologies that have proven unsuitable in the war against Russia.

"The war in Ukraine has opened Pandora's box of cheap 'spam technologies,' and it threatens to overwhelm any armies that are not prepared for it," concludes The Economist.