How drone combat in Ukraine is changing warfare

The Ukrainian military has been outgunned, struggling for months with a shortage of ammunition and artillery shells. What's helped it hold back Russian forces was replacing conventional weapons with commercial technology. Drones that have taken to the skies over the front lines in Ukraine are basically the same platforms for sale in electronic stores, but turned into weapons of war for as little as a few $100. A small over the counter drone equipped with an explosive. Can destroy military equipment worth millions of dollars. Alexander Commission is Ukraine's minister of strategic industries. These kind of things are significantly cheaper than other classic warfare tools. So actually that's the most efficient way how we can win this war. Ukraine is betting big on drones from a few domestic manufacturers just two years ago. There are now more than 200 companies churning out an estimated 150,000 drones a month. Ukraine's president set a goal in December to produce a million drones domestically in 2024. It's already passed that, headed for 2 million. The ramping up and development that's gone on would normally take years. This war has pushed that research, development, testing and evaluation cycle into a matter of weeks, days and sometimes hours. From the first years of the conflict, both sides used aerial drones for surveillance. Since Russia's full scale invasion, the evolution has speed up from drones simply dropping bombs to first person view FPV drones equipped with munitions that explode on impact. Drone units share videos online both for fundraising and to instill fear. They want the enemy to know what they can do. This war has been tick tocked in a way that no other conflict has. Crane has also developed long range drones, equipping small aircraft with 300 kilogram warheads. It's allowed Ukraine to target energy and military infrastructure inside Russia. Well, they shell us deep inside my country daily. We shall them as well. Now militaries around the world are watching the use of drones in the Ukraine war. the US recently cancelled the development of a new attack and reconnaissance helicopter, even after spending $2 billion on the project. It decided the helicopters roll on the battlefield could be done by aircraft without. People on board like officer on Global News Montreal.