It’s too early to tell what role they’ll fill in a symmetric conflict because Russia is increasingly cut off from high tech supplies. The fact that consumer dro

It’s too early to tell what role they’ll fill in a symmetric conflict because Russia is increasingly cut off from high tech supplies. The fact that consumer drone videos of Russians getting bombed are coming out means that most infantry units don’t even have basic SIGINT to detect enemy RF emissions. That’s table stakes for a modern well equipped military with cheap civilian equivalents (Software defined radios). The smaller drones don’t seem to have any sophisticated navigation and targeting yet (the fixed wing loitering munition drones seem to be more advanced though). Otherwise they’re no less useful than the drones the US has been using since Afghanistan, just scaled down in size, capability, and cost. The US and China are no doubt closely studying this conflict and evolving designs for both drones and counter measures since its obvious they’re a significant development in modern warfare that will be used in increasingly clever ways.