Como en muchos conflictos anteriores, la guerra en Ucrania ha obligado a ambos contendientes a innovar. En el esfuerzo por el dominio del espacio a\u00e9reo, los medios de combate tradicionales fueron dejando lugar al empleo de nuevas plataformas m\u00e1s econ\u00f3micas como los drones (UAS) de uso masivo y que reducen la posibilidad de perder costosas aeronaves y sus pilotos. Pero si bien los UAS parecen dominar hoy los escenarios de batalla, esa situaci\u00f3n puede cambiar. Como ocurre habitualmente, cualquier tecnolog\u00eda militar emergente empieza a cuestionar lo anterior, pero al mismo tiempo genera en la contraparte el desarrollo de contramedidas espec\u00edficas. Observamos as\u00ed, que muchos pa\u00edses avanzan aceleradamente en programas de desarrollo de sistemas de defensa \u201cContra Drones\u201d(C-UAS).<\/p>\n
Like so many conflicts before it, the Russo-Ukraine war has forced both sides to innovate. Since they have been able to gain control of opposition air space, neither side has made wide use of traditional air assets such as fast fighter jets. which take much time and money to manufacture and so can\u2019t be risked in active operations.<\/p>\n
Instead, drones are now\u00a0dominating the war<\/a>. According to figures emerging from Ukraine, drones are causing an overwhelming percentage of all the casualties the country is suffering, amounting to between\u00a060% to 70%<\/a>.<\/p>\n However, history shows that this kind of technological advance in warfare is often followed by the development of counter measures. And we\u2019re now seeing the emergence of anti-drone weapons that could reduce the importance of unmanned aerial vehicles in the Ukraine conflict and beyond.<\/p>\n The use of drones has changed the character of warfare with the zone in which ground forces are vulnerable to lethal attack extending to\u00a0between six and nine miles behind the front lines<\/a>. This has made trenches, fortified positions and armoured vehicles much more vulnerable than they would have been previously.<\/p>\n It is not just in the attack role that drones have proved their value, although their use in the\u00a0intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance role<\/a>\u00a0is remarkably similar to that performed by aircraft and balloons in the first world war. Drones have been used to provide real-time intelligence and situational awareness of the battlefield to aid planning and mid-level command, control and communication on the battlefield.<\/p>\n The ability for drones to loiter for prolonged periods of time, combined with the difficulty in successfully targeting these assets, has also seen their use in artillery spotting.<\/p>\n