ARE DRONES THE ANSWER?

By Alistair Pope

“The next war has already been fought – twice, and with many other minor practice runs, but our military has ignored the evidence and the results. Our continuing faith that these armoured drone targets will live long enough to reach the battlefield and fire a shot is touching, but misplaced … Read on and weep. The next war was fought using new technologies and tactics, not in our inventory.

The Second Nagorno-Karabakh War in 2020 was a territorial war initiated by Armenia against Azerbaijan to connect the ethnic Armenian enclaves.

The war was decisively won by Azerbaijan (with the assistance of Turkish drones). How did it happen against the superior armoured Armenian Forces? The Armenians committed 64,000 troops – and lost 4,900 KIA, 250 Tanks, 550 AFV & Military Vehicles, 270 Artillery Guns & 60 AA systems and 8x Arms Warehouses in 44 days. And proportionally, Armenian territory equivalent to the size of WA.

Read again the Armenian losses to drones in just 44 days …

Now cue to the Ethiopian-Tigray War, which Ethiopia was losing until Turkish & Saudi drones helped them stop and throwback the Tigrayan offensive and recover territory held by Tigray for years.

We have no armed drones, are not planning to get any and have therefore already lost the next war. Azerbaijan or Ethiopia could beat us.

Try and do what our ADF apparently cannot do and join the dots.

Drones are unfair! That’s why we stick with the good old tried and tested cold steel of the bayonet.