Ukraine burns through small drones like belts of ammunition — fed, fired, and reloaded. Piloted from behind the front lines, drones hunt on the battlefield. This summer, Ukraine’s drone production increased 900 percent to 200,000 per month from 20,000 the previous year. Costs, too, are ammunition-like: reconnaissance and first-person view drones cost in the low thousands, akin to 120mm mortar rounds and far cheaper than a $200,000 Javelin anti-tank missile. Despite limits to drone performance, the United States will certainly need more drones than it has now. Acquiring, maintaining, accounting for, and delivering drones exceeds what the U.S. Army’s supply system can do.
Drone Tech
Ukraine arms infantry with ammo that splits mid-flight to hit drones Euromaidan Press
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Behind Russia’s battlefield drone surge in Ukraine? Chinese factories. The Washington Post
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It’s an urgent mission for the Pentagon and its defense industry partners: Build cost-effective tools — lots of them — to counter the increasingly cheap and lethal tactical attack drones wielded by America’s adversaries abroad or terrorists targeting events at home.
‘Swarms of Killer Robots’: Why AI is Terrifying the American Military – Politico
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Artificial intelligence technology is poised to transform national security. In the United States, experts and policymakers are already experimenting with large language models that can aid in strategic decision-making in conflicts and autonomous weapons systems (or, as they are more commonly called, “killer robots”) that can make real-time decisions about what to target and whether to use lethal force.
But these new technologies also pose enormous risks. The Pentagon is filled with some of the country’s most sensitive information. Putting that information in the hands of AI tools makes it more vulnerable, both to foreign hackers and to malicious inside actors who want to leak information, as AI can comb through and summarize massive amounts of information better than any human. A misaligned AI agent can also quickly lead to decision-making that unnecessarily escalates conflict.
“These are really powerful tools. There are a lot of questions, I think, about the security of the models themselves,” Mieke Eoyang, the deputy assistant secretary of Defense for cyber policy during the Joe Biden administration, told POLITICO Magazine in a wide-ranging interview about these concerns.
Mysterious drone flights in NATO airspace have caused alarm across Europe. Here’s what we know – The Independent
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France urges tougher action against Russia, saying drones should be shot down and oil ships stopped – Greenwich Time
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EU ‘Drone Wall’ Plans Will Take Years To Materialize, Leaving Continent Vulnerable in the Meantime – Stratfor: The World’s Leading Geopolitical Intelligence Platform – Stratfor
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China Plans ‘Great Wall’ Anti-Drone Defense for Naval Warships – The Defense Post
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North Korea tests new suicide drone weapons, some possibly AI-powered – Korea JoongAng Daily
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Ukraine may soon add warheads, interceptor drones to digital marketplace– www.army-technology.com
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Arsen Zhumadilov, director of Ukraine’s Defence Procurement Agency (DPA), revealed that the Ministry of Defence plan to introduce a new range of systems to the Ukrainian military’s digital marketplace, the DOT-Chain Defence platform, in 2026.
Last week, during DSEI 2025 in London, Zhumadilov revealed that the online marketplace may soon offer interceptor drones and warheads to Ukrainian military units for the first time.
What is the DOT-Chain Defence digital platform?
DOT-Chain Defence was launched in pilot mode only two months ago. Access to the IT system has only been granted to 12 brigades (deployed in Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, and Kharkiv regions) out of more than a hundred.
Commanders can independently select and acquire systems using funds from the DPA.
The platform operates much like an online store but instead of civilian commodities it offers a range of weapons systems. Initially, DPA focused on supplying first-person view (FPV) uncrewed aerial systems (UAS), but this soon expanded to include other autonomous systems and radio electronic warfare (EW) devices. Currently, the marketplace offers products from 25 companies.
Batteries are vital for The Pentagon’s drone roll-out– www.army-technology.com
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As the US military looks to expand its drone capabilities, another important consideration is the batteries that will power these devices. Bruce Parkinson, Applications Engineering and Inside Sales Manager at Ultralife Corporation, explores how modern-day drone manufacturers now have more choice when selecting a power solution.
Single-use drones are typically treated as expendable and may not return from their first mission; therefore, they do not require a rechargeable battery. In the 1940s, when early versions of single-use drones were first developed, non-rechargeable battery technology was still in its infancy and alkaline chemistry had just been invented.
Alkaline batteries have a lower energy density compared to modern lithium alternatives, and, in single-use drones, the energy required for power-intensive systems like guidance, navigation and communications must be compact and efficient, so low energy density was a significant disadvantage. Alkaline batteries also did not perform as well in extreme temperatures, which was problematic for drones that operated in hot or cold climates or at high altitudes.
Today’s lithium-based non-rechargeable batteries not only address these issues, they can even power the propulsion systems of single-use drones, but this is still very rare. As in the 1940s, non-rechargeable batteries are mainly used to power radio control systems and flight stabilizers, but modern drones also feature additional sensors that require more power.
Russia Is Testing NATO With Drones and Disinformation. Here’s How the West Should Respond. – The Moscow Times
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US rushing drones to carriers to blunt China’s missile edge – Asia Times
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The Pentagon is betting heavily on autonomous maritime drones to counter China’s growing naval power in the Pacific. Inspired by Ukraine’s successful use of cheap, kamikaze-style sea drones against Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, US defense planners envision swarms of high-tech, AI-driven vessels patrolling the Taiwan Strait and deterring a Chinese advance. But a string of recent mishaps shows just how steep the learning curve may be.
Setbacks at sea
