Ukraine’s medium strike with drones has gotten really good. This makes it hard to get supplies and reinforcements to the front and forces personnel and equipment further from the front line, increasing traveling time, which creates: delays, wear and tear on vehicles, and more vulnerable road time.
The US desperately needs to learn how to use and mass produce drones or it will be behind on an ongoing military revolution that is killing a majority of soldiers in the Russia-Ukraine war.
Ukraine long-range drone strikes defeat advanced Russian anti-air by flying low, limiting the coverage of radars and confusing them with ground structures, while also using AI to target vulnerable and important targets.
Russia is moving air-defense assets to Moscow for their annual Victory Day Parade, making the rest of the country more vulnerable! This makes Putin and Russia look weak.
Because the US has proven itself an unreliable arms supplier over Ukraine, offering weapons and then suddenly taking them away, Germany has decided to replace the US as a major arms supplier to Europe. This will result in a loss of US sales and negotiating leverage over European countries.
Trump was offered Ukrainian anti-drone systems last year, and he turned it down. There would likely be less destroy American equipment and fewer dead Americans if the US had acquired these systems.
The US really needs to up their game when it comes to mass, cheap, attritable drones.
Many US methods are obsolete and America’s industrial base is not prepared to mass produce drones. Russia and China are already ahead of the US in drone warfare.
The US needs to work with Ukraine to learn from their experience.
Satellites make helping an ally with intelligence much more powerful. China is helping Russia against Ukraine with satellite intelligence. The two authoritarian countries are working together to invade a democracy.