AUTOMATION DOES NOT LEAD TO LEANER LAND FORCES

In June 2022, I travelled with a Ukrainian reconnaissance unit that was seeking to get an uncrewed aerial system with a camera over a series of Russian positions. Although the drone they were using was autonomous, this was not achieved from a remote headquarters with the press of buttons.

Instead, a convoy of vehicles and eight personnel had to thread their way into no-man’s land, establish a communications array, and hold their position for several hours. I was reminded of this by the juxtaposition between the portrayal of drone operations in Pentagon PowerPoint slides and their reality as observed in Ukraine.