Ukrainian soldier with a drone.
Kyiv – With its Soviet tanks and trenches, the war in Ukraine sometimes seems like a relic, a reminder of the past. But experts believe it offers lessons for all possible future conflicts, from the Middle East to Taiwan, AFP writes.
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Photo gallery: Russian invasion of Ukraine
The need to be well supplied with weapons, to wage war using the most modern technologies and not to resist the use of artificial intelligence are just some of the lessons that the conflict has brought almost a year after the invasion of Russian troops into Ukraine.
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
On the battlefield, it is essential to identify targets and be able to hit them quickly. What is new in this regard is the combination of data from different devices (sensor fusion), which creates an accurate image of the terrain, according to defense expert Stephen Biddle from the American Columbia University.
The American company Palantir provided Kiev with its artificial intelligence tools that sort through gigabytes of data and allow the Ukrainian command to know the movement, positions and potential targets of Russian troops in real time. Palantir CEO Alex Karp claims that these new type of “weapons of war” give their users a major tactical advantage over the adversary.
AUTONOMIC WEAPONS
Drone warfare has begun in Ukraine. Both the Russians and Ukrainians are currently well-equipped in this area, and militaries around the world are working to build their own fleets.
The next step is next-generation autonomous drones, programmed to attack without needing to human instruction. These “killer robots” are a cause for concern due to insufficient oversight by military or political leaders.
The Ukrainians already use US-made Switchblade drones, which have the ability to recognize objects for target selection.
OPEN-SOURCE
In connection with the war in Ukraine, obtaining intelligence from information freely available on the Internet – also known by the abbreviation OSINT (open source intelligence) – became key. Anyone can search Telegram groups, satellite images, maps, online discussion forums and videos on the social networking site TikTok to obtain information ranging from the geolocation of potential targets to behind-the-scenes political decisions.
For mobile phone use in Ukraine quite a few Russian soldiers paid with their lives.
Candace Rondeaux from the New America research center recalls that open-source played a role even before the start of the war in connection with information about Russia's preparations for an invasion.
ANTI-AIR DEFENSE
What was surprising was how little the air force plays in the war in Ukraine, even considering the sums invested in bombers or technology such as radar-undetectable aircraft. The reason is air defense, i.e. airspace control using surface-to-air missiles.
This is nothing new, says Stephen Biddle. “It is very difficult to succeed offensively against a well-prepared defense,” he says.
But Ukraine has shown that countries need large numbers of air defense batteries. A demanding requirement considering that one battery of the Patriot system costs over one billion dollars (22.1 billion crowns).
WEAPONS AND OTHER WEAPONS
One of the main lessons of this war is the crucial role played by stockpiles of weapons and ammunition. The conflict has consumed a large number of them, so it is necessary to have a really large stockpile and the ability to replenish them.
Ukraine lacks everything from the simplest projectiles to the most sophisticated ammunition. The Allies are therefore making significant efforts to meet the demand.
Becca Wasser of the CNAS think tank recalls a recent simulation of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan, where she says resupply, particularly of precision-guided munitions, would be “a huge challenge”. As in the case of the Russian invasion, it cannot be assumed that “a possible conflict between the US and China would end quickly”. , reports Biddle. “Stiff, centralized leadership in the Russian style has not made sense for a long time,” he says.
However, many NATO countries have exactly such centralized leadership. This situation will be “very difficult to change”, adds Biddle.
