Drones have boots: Learning from Russia’s war in Ukraine

IF 4 1区社会学 Q1 INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

Contemporary Security Policy Pub Date : 2023-10-02 DOI:10.1080/13523260.2023.2262792

Dominika Kunertova

引用次数: 2

Abstract

Before Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, security studies scholars were myopic about small drones’ enabling functions and tactical benefits. They were preoccupied with drone impacts on international security and the ethical dimensions of counterterrorism drone strikes. Similarly, literature on the revolution in military affairs has examined emerging drone technologies based on their strategic advantages. “Low-tech” drone innovations have received less attention. The war has highlighted the collective magnitude of these omissions. At first, scholars followed extant predictions by concluding that large drones did not revolutionize warfare, proliferated slowly, and were too costly and complex to operate. Yet, one year into the war, thousands of drones—scouts, loitering grenades, drone bomblets, and suicide drones—are defying the field’s assumptions of their uselessness sans air superiority. Contrary to most theoretical expectations, small drones in Ukraine are changing battlefield dynamics from lower airspace. Scholars must begin to study drone diversity in modern wars.

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无人机有靴子:借鉴俄罗斯在乌克兰的战争

在俄罗斯2022年入侵乌克兰之前，安全研究学者对小型无人机的启用功能和战术效益持短视态度。他们专注于无人机对国际安全的影响，以及反恐无人机袭击的道德层面。同样，关于军事革命的文献也根据新兴无人机技术的战略优势对其进行了研究。“低技术含量”的无人机创新受到的关注较少。这场战争凸显了这些遗漏的总体规模。起初，学者们遵循了现有的预测，得出结论认为，大型无人机不会给战争带来革命性的变化，扩散速度缓慢，而且操作起来过于昂贵和复杂。然而，战争开始一年后，成千上万的无人机——侦察兵、漫游手榴弹、无人机小炸弹和自杀式无人机——正在挑战这个领域的假设，即它们在没有空中优势的情况下毫无用处。与大多数理论预期相反，乌克兰的小型无人机正在从低空改变战场动态。学者们必须开始研究现代战争中无人机的多样性。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Contemporary Security Policy Multiple-

CiteScore

14.60

自引率

6.80%

发文量

期刊介绍： One of the oldest peer-reviewed journals in international conflict and security, Contemporary Security Policy promotes theoretically-based research on policy problems of armed conflict, intervention and conflict resolution. Since it first appeared in 1980, CSP has established its unique place as a meeting ground for research at the nexus of theory and policy. Spanning the gap between academic and policy approaches, CSP offers policy analysts a place to pursue fundamental issues, and academic writers a venue for addressing policy. Major fields of concern include: War and armed conflict Peacekeeping Conflict resolution Arms control and disarmament Defense policy Strategic culture International institutions. CSP is committed to a broad range of intellectual perspectives. Articles promote new analytical approaches, iconoclastic interpretations and previously overlooked perspectives. Its pages encourage novel contributions and outlooks, not particular methodologies or policy goals. Its geographical scope is worldwide and includes security challenges in Europe, Africa, the Middle-East and Asia. Authors are encouraged to examine established priorities in innovative ways and to apply traditional methods to new problems.