Rise of the Machines: Drone Warfare in the Russia-Ukraine War - Tactics, Operations, Strategy - (9781804519707)
From the chaotic early months of 2022 to the immense set-piece battles of Bakhmut, Avdiivka, the Kursk offensive and the defence of Southern Donbas, drones have become the decisive actors in spotting, striking, supplying, overwhelming and outmanoeuvring conventional forces. Sekirin explains how FPV attack drones, reconnaissance platforms, electronic warfare systems, naval USVs and autonomous technologies have overturned long-standing assumptions about firepower, manoeuvre, armour and air control. Tanks, artillery and manned aircraft — once the arbiters of victory — now struggle for survival under constant observation and precise, expendable robotic attack.
Yet this is not merely a battlefield chronicle. Sekirin sets the drone revolution within a wider geopolitical awakening. As China, Iran, North Korea and Russia form a new "axis of upheaval", and Western democracies wrestle with the institutional inertia of legacy doctrines, the book argues that the West must urgently adapt or risk strategic obsolescence. The lessons Ukraine has learnt — at enormous cost — offer a blueprint for how modern militaries must reorganise, procure, train and fight.
Rich in operational detail, strategic insight and first-hand testimony, Rise of the Machines is an essential guide to the conflict that is redefining twenty-first-century combat. It shows not only how drones changed this war, but how they will shape all wars to come.
Features
- 289 pages
- Over 85 photos, illustrations tables and maps
- Hardcover
- Book dimensions are 11.5" x 8"
From the chaotic early months of 2022 to the immense set-piece battles of Bakhmut, Avdiivka, the Kursk offensive and the defence of Southern Donbas, drones have become the decisive actors in spotting, striking, supplying, overwhelming and outmanoeuvring conventional forces. Sekirin explains how FPV attack drones, reconnaissance platforms, electronic warfare systems, naval USVs and autonomous technologies have overturned long-standing assumptions about firepower, manoeuvre, armour and air control. Tanks, artillery and manned aircraft — once the arbiters of victory — now struggle for survival under constant observation and precise, expendable robotic attack.
Yet this is not merely a battlefield chronicle. Sekirin sets the drone revolution within a wider geopolitical awakening. As China, Iran, North Korea and Russia form a new "axis of upheaval", and Western democracies wrestle with the institutional inertia of legacy doctrines, the book argues that the West must urgently adapt or risk strategic obsolescence. The lessons Ukraine has learnt — at enormous cost — offer a blueprint for how modern militaries must reorganise, procure, train and fight.
Rich in operational detail, strategic insight and first-hand testimony, Rise of the Machines is an essential guide to the conflict that is redefining twenty-first-century combat. It shows not only how drones changed this war, but how they will shape all wars to come.
