This article originally appeared in the Hill Times.
By Jean-François Bélanger and Alex Wilner, November 3, 2025
Low-cost unmanned aerial vehicles—drones—have become a defining element of modern warfare, reshaping battlefields across Europe and the Middle East. Their killing power and ability to bypass traditional defence measures are altering how conflicts are fought and won. As this technology evolves at breakneck speed, Canada risks being caught flat-footed.
Russia unleashes hundreds of cheap, one-way attack drones on Ukraine every day. Many are now tethered to kilometres of thin fibre-optic cables able to suppress counter-drone electronic jamming technology. At present, between 60 and 70 per cent of casualties in Ukraine are the result of drone strikes.
Russia has also used drones to harass NATO allies. The past month witnessed a surge of drone incursions into Poland, Norway, Belgium, Denmark, Romania, and Germany. Some drones, testing NATO responses, were destroyed. Others scoped out airports and military bases, forcing several European nations to close their airspace. In response, European allies activated Article IV of the NATO charter, bringing the alliance closer than ever to a forceful collective reprisal. Russian drone incursions are not going away: they are an integral component of Russia’s hybrid warfare strategy.
The European Union is also discussing the feasibility of establishing a “drone wall” to better monitor, track, and engage adversary drones, calling for more advanced sensors and cheaper interceptors. Already, an undisclosed NATO ally purchased a new Australian-made laser system able to destroy dozens of drones per minute by “thermal destruction.” Though needed today, the system will only be deployed 18 months from now.
Ukraine has become a hotbed of drone innovation, too. Its domestic manufacturing base churns out hundreds of thousands of small military-grade drones a month. These machines have different functions. Reconnaissance drones identify enemy targets that are subsequently destroyed using other first-person-view drones; pilots deliberately crash these into targets using remote controllers and video-enabled headsets. Some cost as little as $500 apiece to produce. The pace of innovation has also accelerated.
Last June, Ukraine deployed drones deep into Russian territory. Launched from commercial transportation trucks parked close to military airfields, the drones damaged 10 per cent of Russia’s strategic bomber fleet. Some of the drones used AI to autonomously identify vulnerable targets on individual aircraft.
Israel took note. In a prelude to its larger air war targeting Tehran’s nuclear weapons program, Israeli covert operators launched drones they had built within Iran to destroy air defence systems and missile launch sites. Israel’s anti-drone technology is likewise advancing quickly. Last month, after a Houthi drone snuck past air defences and struck the southern Israeli city of Eilat, injuring 20 civilians, Israel fast-tracked the deployment of its own laser defence system.
The next battlefield innovation will leverage AI to lasso swarms of small drones together, overwhelming defenders with countless vehicles able to identify, track, and engage targets autonomously. This is going to happen sooner than you think.
For Canada, the lessons are clear.
On tactics, operations, and strategy, we need more engagement with academics and researchers on how best to integrate cheap, disposable, and ubiquitous drones into our fighting posture and doctrine. On research, development, and manufacturing, we need to ensure that Canadian companies developing drones such as ARA Robotics, Candrone, or Exo Tactik to name a few, and related technologies have the means to innovate, test, and sell their technology to the Canadian Armed Forces. We need to quicken that pipeline and ensure our supply chains are safe from foreign interference and sabotage. Canadian industry must be agile to address the rapidly changing field: systems will need regular updates or replacement faster than expected.
On counter-measures, we need to build, advance, and test the latest in anti-drone technology, as Canada is set to do next month with a demonstration in downtown Ottawa.
Drones have proven to be deadly additions to contemporary warfare. It’s too late to slow the technology’s proliferation. We need to prepare accordingly and adapt faster.
Jean-François Bélanger is an assistant professor at the Institute for Military Operations at the Royal Danish Defence College in Copenhagen.
Alex Wilner is an associate professor at the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs at Carleton University in Ottawa, and a senior fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute
