The EU is not currently sending its old MiG-29 fighter jets.
I’m not too surprised by this. Fighter jets are sophisticated machines. As good as the move sounded initially, there might be practical reasons why these jets simply can’t be deployed effectively in the hands of Ukrainians.
Turkish drones are fighting alongside MiG-29s. It’s like we’re living in an Star Trek alternative timeline.
I must say I’m not too thrilled by this development. Even though it is good news for Ukrainians right now, this is further evidence that drones will absolutely dominate the battlefields of the future. During the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the effectiveness of drone strikes was brushed aside with “these slow, relatively low-tech aerial assets would be sitting ducks against a major-power adversary”. Now that excuse doesn’t fly any more.
I have high confidence that the dominance of drones in conflicts between technologically-sophisticated powers is (barring world peace and civilizational collapse) inevitable. This is a public, registered prediction.
It’s not just that drones will be a decisive factor, that has already been the case with air power for >30 years. What’s terrifying to me is that drone warfare intrinsically favors the attacker—drones can’t defend you against drones, you can only retaliate, like with nuclear weapons. Unlike nuclear weapons, the threshold for using them in war is very, very low, as is the technological barrier to entry.
I’m not too surprised by this. Fighter jets are sophisticated machines. As good as the move sounded initially, there might be practical reasons why these jets simply can’t be deployed effectively in the hands of Ukrainians.
I must say I’m not too thrilled by this development. Even though it is good news for Ukrainians right now, this is further evidence that drones will absolutely dominate the battlefields of the future. During the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the effectiveness of drone strikes was brushed aside with “these slow, relatively low-tech aerial assets would be sitting ducks against a major-power adversary”. Now that excuse doesn’t fly any more.
I have high confidence that the dominance of drones in conflicts between technologically-sophisticated powers is (barring world peace and civilizational collapse) inevitable. This is a public, registered prediction.
It’s not just that drones will be a decisive factor, that has already been the case with air power for >30 years. What’s terrifying to me is that drone warfare intrinsically favors the attacker—drones can’t defend you against drones, you can only retaliate, like with nuclear weapons. Unlike nuclear weapons, the threshold for using them in war is very, very low, as is the technological barrier to entry.