Short videos of drones destroying heavy equipment have become popular programs on the internet, and many people believe that drones will dominate the future battlefield, and even the “useless tank theory” is once again rampant. In fact, this is a false impression caused by the lack of effective electronic warfare capabilities in both Russia and Ukraine. If one side has strong electromagnetic control, it is believed that the situation of unmanned aerial vehicles flying indiscriminately will be significantly suppressed.
Firstly, unmanned turrets are the true kings.
When it comes to unmanned combat systems, most people first think of drones. In fact, the subsystems that truly play an important role are the ground heavy equipment – unmanned turrets and remote-controlled weapon stations. The popularity of such weapon systems far exceeds that of drones.
The 2S35 “Soyuz SV” self-propelled howitzer equipped by Russia adopts an unmanned turret, with a three person crew sitting inside the vehicle. Its design represents the future direction of heavy equipment development. Developing a reliable unmanned turret requires a high level of expertise in areas such as automatic loading machines, sensors, and ammunition, which is not as simple as it seems.
The Russian Army T-14 “Armata” main battle tank is often ridiculed as a “parade weapon”, but its design – with unmanned turrets and a crew all located inside the vehicle – has become the mainstream of the new generation of main battle tanks.
The new tank concept prototype launched by the Franco German KNDS group at the European Defense Exhibition in June 2024 adopts this design. The new generation of tanks equipped with unmanned turrets can provide better protection for the fleet, reduce the overall combat weight, and carry more weapons and ammunition.
Similarly, unmanned turrets have also appeared on infantry fighting vehicles. As these turrets do not have the hanging basket of traditional manned turrets, they do not occupy a large amount of interior space, and the rotation of the turret does not affect the movement and safety of personnel inside the vehicle. They have become a favored design by weapon designers.
If the unmanned turret is further reduced, it will be the remote-controlled weapon station that we often see on various armored vehicles. This device allows soldiers to operate machine guns and automatic grenade launchers to strike enemy targets without leaving the protection of armor, and has significant practical value.
Remote controlled weapon stations are very common, not only installed on various armored vehicles, but even on the turrets of tanks and infantry fighting vehicles, making them multi turret fighting vehicles.
Secondly, drones/vehicles have become versatile on the battlefield.
The Russia-Ukraine conflict has made people fully realize that civilian UAVs can also join the military and can perform various tasks such as reconnaissance, attack, fire correction and so on. These small drones have also changed the combat style of small units. When approaching enemy targets, a few person combat team will release drones for reconnaissance, and then release FPV suicide drones to attack key targets. While continuing to maintain concealment, they will deliver fatal blows to important enemy targets.
Due to the outstanding performance of drones, many people have overlooked the importance of unmanned vehicles for a military.
Unmanned vehicles with manual remote control as the mainstay and autonomous control as a supplement can follow frontline infantry to carry out transportation, patrol, and combat tasks, directly enhancing the combat effectiveness of frontline troops. Unmanned vehicles can not only increase the ammunition and equipment carrying capacity of patrol teams several times, but also install heavy weapons on them, providing powerful support firepower for infantry. It can be said that unmanned vehicles will become one of the core components of future team operations.
For the army, although the addition of unmanned systems will help solve problems such as single attack methods, weak anti armor capabilities, logistical supply difficulties, and limited perception capabilities, it poses higher technical requirements. Soldiers not only need to master the use of conventional weapons, but also need to be proficient in operating various drones and unmanned vehicles, which puts heavier pressure on the rear training system.
New equipment will inevitably bring many new problems, and how to solve them depends on one’s inner cultivation.