Russian Commander Complains NATO Testing Drones on Ukraine’s Front Line

In an interview with Russia’s state news agency TASS on Tuesday, Oct. 27 the commander of Moscow’s Akhmat special forces unit, Lt. Gen. Apti Alaudinov complained that NATO nations were using the war in Ukraine to test drone technology in combat against Russia.He commented that large numbers of Western manufactured unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) were being encountered: “We see that drones manufactured in all these countries, which are members of the NATO alliance, are being tested against us on the line of engagement.”JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official.Alaudinov claimed that these included drones of every type, capability and operational ranges. According to him, this not only included first-person view (FPV) drones used to attack Russian forces and equipment on the front line but also included long-range UAVs that were being used to carry out deep strikes against towns, cities and infrastructure inside Russia.The West learning from Ukraine’s experience of drone warfare – a two-way streetIn March 2022, in the earliest days of the war, the US Council on Foreign relations commented on how Ukraine relied on drones sourced from Turkey, the Bayraktar TB2, as a means of disrupting Russian tank columns on their march towards Kyiv. Their appearance on the battlefield seemed at first to be a game changer, but it was not long before their vulnerability was exploited by Moscow’s air defenses.However, the value of drones in taking the war to the enemy and the need for countermeasures was soon appreciated by both sides which led to the battlefield dominance UAVs currently enjoy. Other Topics of Interest What Israel’s Election Could Change for Ukraine and Relations With Russia Ukraine is not driving Israel’s election, but politicians are reconsidering cooperation with Kyiv as Russia’s partnership with Iran brings their security concerns closer together. Recent statements by Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense and reports in the Western mainstream and social media seem to partially confirm Alaudinov’s assertions. Ukraine is cooperating with both government and commercial drone-related programs, not only using “attack” and surveillance drones but also to develop counter-drone technology and tactics.A July report by the Ministry of Defense explained how it was working with NATO’s Allied Command Transformation (ACT) agency using its battlefield experience to support NATO in developing ways to combat drones. The report says this shows that “Ukraine is not only receiving support from its partners but is also actively shaping their approaches to modern warfare.”On Monday the US publication The Hill reported on comments made by US Air Force Gen. Alexus G. Grynkewich, SACEUR, at a meeting in Poland. This followed on from an earlier report by Bloomberg on plans to use artificial intelligence (AI) enhanced drones to defend the alliance. The general laid out a possible strategy in the event of an attack by Russia, the concept of “blunt, block and break.” The articles suggested that the mass use of UAVs would be key to the success of Grynkewich’s plan and suggested that virtually every military was developing UAV-based concepts supplemented with AI for warfighting.A week ago, the Wall Street Journal reported on how Ukraine’s “Kill Zone” was being used to test and develop the use of AI in drones. This followed a report in the defense issues website the Defense Post that discussed how Ukraine had been deploying AI tools developed in the NATO-Ukraine Joint Analysis, Training and Education Centre (JATEC) to both plan and control its UAV operations and to predict Russian drone activity. It said a prototype system was undergoing real-time validation by Ukrainian forces.CBS reported in September that Washington and Kyiv were in the process of agreeing on a policy that would allow the two countries to expand the testing and production of Ukrainian defense technology in the US. It was given new impetus by the use of Iranian drones against US forces in the Middle East.The report cites experts saying the experience gained by Ukraine in developing drone software and operations, as well as the speed with which it could adapt to battlefield changes, were likely to prove invaluable to the use of drones by the US and its allies.Deborah Fairlamb, partner in a US venture capital firm that is investing in Ukrainian defense technology, told CBS: “The West needs to start understanding better is that it’s not just about having the tech. It’s about how the tech is used. And this is where Ukraine’s knowledge, skills, experience really need to be transmitted.”In a separate report on its YouTube channel in July, CBS reported on how Ukraine was deploying US drone technology, such as the “Shield AI” V-Bat vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) reconnaissance and targeting UAV, to support long-range strikes into Russia. 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