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Aug 5, 2025 48 min

Why Drones Can’t Replace Traditional Firepower

from Geopolitics Decanted with Dmitri Alperovitch Hosted by Dmitri Alperovitch, Justin Bronk

Dmitri Alperovitch talks to air power expert Justin Bronk about why it's a bad idea for Western militaries to follow Ukraine's lead and overly invest in production of small drones like FPVs and other loitering munitions. They also dive into best counter-drone strategies, as well as the implications of Ukraine's Operation SpiderWeb and Israel's forward deployed drones neutralizing Iranian air defenses during Operations Rising Lion for strategies to protect aircraft and air-defenses against such threats. 00:00 Introduction 00:28 Why NATO Should Not Follow Ukraine Into Overreliance on Drones 09:22 Small FPVs vs Other Drone Types 15:42 Best Strategy for Effective Anti Drone Defense 26:06 Would Ukraine Be Better Off Spending Money on Conventional Systems? 28:01 Orchestration of Combined Arms Warfare 29:11 Does Ukraine Need More FPVs or Artillery? 31:33 Can America Afford to Invest in Both Small Drones and Conventional Systems? 34:06 Options for Neutralizing Air Defenses 36:53 The State of Russian Air Defenses 38:53 How to Protect Air Forces Against Operation SpiderWeb-style drone tactics 44:35 Assessing the Efficacy of Ukrainian F-16s NATO Should Not Replace Traditional Firepower with ‘Drones’: https://www.rusi.org/explore-our-research/publications/rusi-defence-systems/nato-should-not-replace-traditional-firepower-drones

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Why Drones Can’t Replace Traditional Firepower

0:00 48:38

Chapters

  1. 0:00 Introduction
  2. 0:28 Why NATO Should Not Follow Ukraine Into Overreliance on Drones
  3. 9:22 Small FPVs vs Other Drone Types
  4. 15:42 Best Strategy for Effective Anti Drone Defense
  5. 26:06 Would Ukraine Be Better Off Spending Money on Conventional Systems?
  6. 28:01 Orchestration of Combined Arms Warfare
  7. 29:11 Does Ukraine Need More FPVs or Artillery?
  8. 31:33 Can America Afford to Invest in Both Small Drones and Conventional Systems?
  9. 34:06 Options for Neutralizing Air Defenses
  10. 36:53 The State of Russian Air Defenses
  11. 38:53 How to Protect Air Forces Against Operation SpiderWeb-style drone tactics
  12. 44:35 Assessing the Efficacy of Ukrainian F-16s

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This episode is 48 minutes long.

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This episode was published on August 5, 2025.

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