- The West has long focused on the production of expensive and powerful military equipment.
- But defense ministers warn that Russia has shown why more cheaper weapons need.
- “One of the lessons learned from Ukraine.”
The Ukrainian war has shown that combating the major lengthy conflicts require more than wonderful weapons. It requires cheap weapons in large quantities.
The West has long given priority to developing and informing the most expensive weapons, but to confront their close competitors such as Russia or China, it also needs cheap weapons that can build many current and previous NATO officials.
Gabrielus Landsberses, until late last year, described the Litania Foreign Minister, an ally of NATO next to Russia, the war in Ukraine as one of the “high quantities”. There are important lessons in that.
Business Insider told that while the West focused on expensive new weapons and takes a long time to manufacture, the Russians “build something cheap, and this is a consumer, this is fast.”
Bill Johnson, Sweden Minister of Defense, told BI that the United States and Europe “are struggling with” cost. He said part of the problem is contracts of investment in weapons.
Insufficient and inconsistent demand often leads to inefficiency in production, stressful defense industries and leads to an increase in costs. Over time, industrial capacity is cavity, causing accumulation and deficiency.
By requesting more, “we also expect the unit price to decrease.”
There is a balance between all this, as suggested by the Secretary -General of NATO Mark Roti last month. He said that “the speed is from essence, not perfection.” Roti said that it is about “obtaining the speed and adequate quality that has been accomplished in the right communication.”
High -density conflicts are opposed to men and Matterell, demanding the quantity, not just quality, from armies. The cheapest weapons played a big role in Ukraine, where low -cost drones destroyed a piece of weapons worth millions. Russia has also turned into weapons such as cheap drones and hanging on ammunition and growing bombs, while retaining the most advanced ammunition directed to the targets of high value.
The commander of the Special Forces Group “Hostri Kartuzy” with the “KUM” brand “KUM” pilot drone in June 2024 in Lyptsi, Kharkiv Oblast, Ukraine.
Tanya Dzafarowa/Superilne Ukraine/JSC “UA: PBC”/International photos Ukraine via Getty Images
This does not mean that there is no value in advanced systems. Ukraine praised the American -made patriotism for its ability to stop weapons that no system can defend air, but these weapons are few, and they eat up to this Two years To make, objections cost about $ 4 million.
This is not a weapon to shoot down cheap drones.
TROELS LOND POULSEN, the Danish Defense Minister, told Bi that the West needs much larger quantities of weapons that are not inexpensive to meet the threats posed by Russia and China. He said this is “one of the lessons” from Ukraine, which can produce costly effective weapons and even achieve capabilities similar to expensive Western regimes.
The leadership of the Russian Ministry of Defense was previously Pride “Our weapons are hundreds of times cheaper than the systems that have been published for us.”
China, likewise, has a large arsenal of cheap weapons. A single missile can demand a single missile against the US Navy or the main outposts in the Pacific Ocean, if not hundreds, with millions of dollars in intersections to repel.
War experts have warned that the United States can quickly exhaust its supply of basic weapons in the war, which is why the United States explores how to build the bloc with cheaper drones, but it is still working.
Lessons for the West
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has a lot to teach Western countries that have spent decades in fighting terrorists and rebellion over what looks like to fight the war of great powerful power.
“We did not prepare for this,” Landsberses said, adding, “We have prepared for a different type of war with high accuracy, high technology, and a very good goal, but also expensive,” said Landsberses.
These conflicts were less required. He said that Russia changed this, and the Ukrainians see it in the actual time.
The war in Ukraine is a criminal battle, a tear of ammunition and weapons. Russia, like China, has many workforce and machines that it throws in the battle, which is completely different from the World War of the United States and NATO on terrorism.
One of the American military warriors who had previously fought in Ukraine told Ukraine that the war is completely different from other battles that some Western soldiers were killed because they expected it to be easy and did not realize that their training did not return them to this war.
When watching Ukraine, Western armies change some of their priorities and revive ancient tactics, such as focusing more on the war of the trench, and exploring new systems, such as looking at the value of the dominant low -cost systems such as drones to increase their armed forces in favor of future battles.
The Ukrainian Medic Medic MEDIC Medic passes with the twenty -eighth brigade through a trench in parting in the face of the confrontation line outside the Bakhmut, Ukraine.
John Moore Pictures
European leaders have pushed more spending on defense, as the Russians threaten to attack more deeply on the continent and launch hybrid war attacks against NATO.
“It may be more dangerous than it was ever. So if there is a time it cannot be satisfied, it is now.” He said that Europe needs to be prepared because “the most dangerous time has ended.”
Defense spending for Litania is among the highest rates in NATO as a percentage of GDP, and, alongside Estonia, has pledged to raise this number to 5 %, and US President Donald Trump called with the proposal to retreat from the European defense.
War and strategic experts have previously told how Russia fights shows that Europe and the United States need to invest in a higher amount of weapons rather than focusing only on fewer high -quality weapons.
“We have not stored weapons” for a great and long -term conflict like the war in Ukraine, but “to be Frank, Russia and China were,” said the retired Major General of the Australian army, General Mick Ryan, a war strategic expert. “
European defense spending increased, although European leaders, as well as NATO president, stressed at the recent Munich Security Conference that more should be done.
The Prime Minister of Denmark, Metty Friedrixen, warned at the conference that European production issues need urgent treatment, and the two gathering leaders told Ukraine to produce weapons “faster and cheaper” than anywhere else in Europe although it is in war.
“We have a problem, friends, if a country in the war can produce faster than our rest,” she said.
