Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has turned the country into a proving ground for unmanned-aerial warfare at every tier—from cheap kamikaze quadcopters that cost a few hundred dollars to Moscow’s Lancet and Shahed loitering munitions and Kyiv’s emerging medium-altitude combat drones. The immediate military effect is visible in operations such as Ukraine’s 2025 “Operation Spider Web,” a coordinated strike that used hundreds of truck-launched kamikaze drones—each costing roughly $350—to destroy or cripple at least four types of high-value Russian aircraft: the Tu-160, Tu-95, Tu-22M long-range bombers and a rare A-50 airborne early-warning platform. Total replacement value for the damaged fleet exceeds $2 billion; by contrast, the entire drone wave cost Ukraine well under a million dollars. The strike echoed mid-20th-century doctrines of surprise and maneuver against larger forces and underscored Admiral William McRaven’s theory that small, precisely aimed blows can deliver disproportionate results.
