Writing for RealClearDefense, Army Major George Fust looks at the lessons to be learned from the not-terribly-effective invasion of Ukraine. Getting the right mix of old and new technology is critical to military success, and the Russians failed this test.
Russians went into Ukraine with lots of old tech and the local forces cut them up with new tech. Fust fails to make the point but the same thing happened in a recent mini-war between Azerbaijan and Armenia when Armenia’s armor was defeated by relatively cheap drones and anti-armor missiles the Azeris bought from the Turks and used to devastating effect.
The U.S. Marine Corps is getting rid of its tanks which must be a reaction, at least in part, to these two object lessons. Armored vehicles are excellent targets for the new “smart” weapons, and at this point the weapons seem to be able to defeat the armor.
The modern battlefield may end up with largely unprotected humans - cowering in whatever cover they can find - directing smart weapons at each other. The new unarmored Infantry Squad Vehicle is a response to the changed environment.
I’m guessing DARPA is already investigating how to enable smart weapons to seek, find and destroy individual unarmored humans. It’s likely infrared detection will be involved except in hot desert environs.
I imagine future soldiers setting fires to distract anti-personnel heat-seekers. Eventually the heat-seekers will need to be smart enough to ignore too-hot targets. And yes, all of this does remind me of the Terminator films and Skynet.
