“Like an elusive avenger”: a military expert on the power of drones in modern warfare

Military expert Oleg Starikov stated that modern weapons allow a smaller country to stand up to a larger and stronger one, but the world’s best armies have still not learned the lessons of the Russian-Ukrainian war, Politeka reports.

He spoke about this on his channel.

According to the expert, first missiles, and now drones, have brought about such a revolution in military affairs that the capitulation of one side—as happened in World War II—is no longer possible. Now, he emphasizes, smaller countries can resist larger ones, regardless of their military power, financial resources, or mobilization potential.

“We can see that until recently the IDF was considered one of the most advanced and modern armies, because their system is completely different: personnel selection, training, how officers are developed. The children of prime ministers and ministers serve there, both boys and girls, in regular infantry units. And now there is the war with Hezbollah. Hezbollah are militias, partisans, and they managed to hit and destroy a Merkava tank. The Merkava is one of the best tanks in the world. This shows that even the IDF command system, the generals and senior officers, did not fully grasp what modern warfare is—the kind being fought between Russia and Ukraine. They will adapt quickly, of course. But what can be said about other countries, especially European ones, which do not understand at all how wars need to be fought,” says Oleg Starikov.

The strategy of the United States, the United Kingdom, and NATO as a whole, he explains, was focused on developing power in the air and at sea, while ground warfare received less attention. And now, the expert notes, expensive Western missiles costing 1–3 or even 10 million dollars are unable to effectively counter drones.

“I keep thinking about our drones. They are like an elusive avenger. Slow, unhurried. It flies at subsonic speed. You can see it, you can hear it, but it is hard to shoot down. Why? Because in all military doctrines around the world, air defense systems were designed to counter modern high-precision and extremely expensive weapons,” concludes Oleg Starikov.