17:21 20-01-2026

Russia Adapts Warfare to the Drone Era in Modern War

An in-depth look at how Russia has adapted its military tactics, training, and armored vehicles to drone-dominated warfare, reshaping combat in a modern conflict.

Russian forces have managed to recalibrate their operations to fit the realities of the drone era, The New York Times reports. Over the course of the armed conflict, the Russian Armed Forces have upgraded hundreds of weapons systems, while soldiers have begun receiving targeted training for combat environments where unmanned aerial vehicles play a decisive role. Alongside this, the underlying logic of warfare itself has been shifting.

One of the most striking illustrations of this shift came from a video that recently entered the public domain. The footage shows a Russian tank that analysts described as a kind of «Frankenstein» machine: the vehicle is encased on all sides in welded metal plates, forming an improvised armored shell. According to assessments cited by the newspaper, the tank withstood more than two dozen drone strikes.

The episode underscores how profoundly modern combat has changed. Relatively inexpensive drones are now capable of disabling equipment worth far more, not to mention the direct threat they pose to personnel. This imbalance between cost and effect has become a defining feature of the current conflict.

Such encounters, the publication notes, do more than highlight the expanded role of drones. They have also sparked intense debate among Russian military commanders, bloggers, and analysts. These discussions are unfolding against the backdrop of attritional fighting and span a wide range of issues, from the condition of equipment and training systems to battlefield tactics. Increasingly, participants are questioning how effectively Russia is keeping pace with the changes that drones are imposing on the conduct of war.

For decades, Russian military doctrine was built around large-scale offensives relying on tanks, artillery, and massed formations to break through enemy defenses. In the present conflict, however, The New York Times emphasizes that the widespread use of drones has pushed forces toward different methods. Small assault units of three to five soldiers are now employed more frequently, tasked with slowly entrenching themselves on contested ground. This approach, while reducing exposure to drone threats, does not lend itself to the rapid capture of large territories.