Drones, NLAWs and space: The lessons military planners are learning from the Ukraine invasion and what it means if the UK went to war with Russia
Now, the threat of an encounter with Russia - regarded as a military peer - is very present and it is arguable the British and other allied forces are not yet equipped for that.
Prof Clarke, who was involved in planning to combat the Soviet threat in the 1980s, said NATO thinking in the late 20th century was that the Soviets realised they would ultimately fail if they tried a blitzkrieg in Europe, but it didn't stop planning for such a scenario.In 1990s Chechnya, Russian tactics were to bludgeon their opponents so effectively, they could not fight back. That is now being seen in the east of Ukraine.
"We have been surprised at how lacking in innovation they have been and how foolish their tactics have been in sending tanks [in] unsupported."Many Russian tanks on the roads north of Kyiv either ran out of fuel or ammunition, making them vulnerable to attack, like these in Bovary. Pic: APRussian reliance on large amounts of heavy armour, both tanks and heavy guns, has exposed how vulnerable they are to new forms of military equipment.
Prof Clarke believes the effectiveness of the Turkish drones may prompt Western militaries to develop their own versions.Turkey began selling Bayraktar drones to Ukraine in 2019 and independent estimates suggest the number of TB2s in Ukraine is between 20 and 50. Pic: APProviding Ukraine with access to Elon Musk's Starlink system has changed the game for its forces' ability to communicate in the field.
"And the Ukrainians distracted [the Moskva] with one, maybe two Bayraktar. They got the Moskva to swing all of their guns round to these Bayraktars and then hit them from the other side with a couple of Neptunes. Amazing. And they lost a flagship just like that."The Moskva is thought to have been left vulnerable to attack because it was unable to coordinate with air support.
Russia has seen more success in eastern Ukraine, by pounding their opposing forces and holding them back with an onslaught. Key to that has been rocket fire. The Ukrainians have in fact got ahead of Western militaries by developing a system - with British assistance - that uses radar and computing power to work out exactly where enemy positions are firing from.
"The old idea was that only a tank or the air force can stop a tank. That assumption may now be being revisited."Considering they have been accused of using nuclear and chemical agents in the UK, it might have been assumed the Russians wouldn't follow international rules on the battlefield, but the Ukraine conflict appears to have confirmed it.
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