David Hambling
Air War 2.0: How Small Drones Fight
A new type of air war is unfolding in Ukraine, one with curious echoes of WW1 and the early days of air combat. It is a battle of drone versus drone, with tactics and technology for attack and defense evolving fast. It is happening in a parallel universe to traditional air warfare, a space where existing weapons have been unable to reach.
Victory in this sphere will have insurmountable significance – greater perhaps than winning air superiority in previous wars.
Air War Beneath the Jets
In 2017, the Allies completely dominated the sky over Mosul during the operation to retake the city from ISIS militants. The United States Air Force A-10 Warthogs, Navy F/A-18s, and Marine Corps Harriers provided close air support while B-52 Stratofortresses delivered bombs from high altitude, collectively hitting up to 500 targets a week in the most intense phase of an air campaign against ISIS.
Simultaneously, allied forces on the ground were coming under an air attack.
ISIS was among the first groups to weaponize small consumer quadcopters, turning them into bombers dropping grenades and other small munitions. These were not used effectively and lacked anti-armor capability, but they caused casualties and delays among the attacking forces. At times, there were as many as a dozen ISIS drones in operation, and according to one BBC correspondent, bombs “fell like rain.”
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