Due to the prevalence of anti-aircraft warfare systems on both the Russian and Ukrainian sides in the Ukraine War, aircraft have been rarely utilized in this conflict. Additionally, anti-tank weapons and drones have made tanks much harder to use. Tank versus tank warfare is almost never seen, and tanks often seem to function as worse forms of artillery.
Tanks and fighter aircraft are extremely expensive, with tanks costing a few million and many fighter jets costing tens of millions. Russia’s radar aircraft the Beriev A-50 reported cost more than $300 million. Many of these expensive machines have not really been able to operate as intended on the modern battlefield. Instead, cheap drones have become ubiquitous. Consumer grade drones around the $2,000–5,000 range were very common at the start of the war, but now, Ukraine has been able to build FPV (first-person-view) drones for as low as a few hundred.
So far, there has been little to counter these types of cheap drones. They can easily destroy million-dollar tanks. Infantry are also helpless against them. There are many videos…
