JRL NEWSWATCH: “What is the war in Ukraine teaching Western armies? It shows the importance of dispersal, firepower and stockpiles” – The Economist

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“… The pivotal role of artillery is a sobering thought for western European armies, whose firepower has dwindled dramatically since the end of the cold war. … Ukraine[] … started the war with over 1,000 barrel artillery systems (those with long tubes) and 1,680 multiple-rocket launchers — more than Britain, France, Italy, Spain and Poland [combined] … the largest artillery force in Europe after Russia. The principal constraint was ammunition. … But a key lesson from Ukraine is that armies need more drones than they think. … [Drone] attrition [such as seen in the Russo-Ukrainian conflict] would chew up the [drone] fleets of European armies in … days. It puts a premium on cheap and simple systems, which can be treated as near-disposable …. The war also shows how drones can be defeated. … The most important way of countering drones … [according to one source] is to use electronic warfare … whose invisibility has left it languishing in the shadows. …”

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