Zaluzhnyi: War of the future will be fought with ultra-cheap, ultra-effective means
Ukraine's Ambassador to the United Kingdom and former Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Valerii Zaluzhnyi, said this in an interview with LB.ua, according to Ukrinform.
He explained that according to NATO standards, it takes three missiles to intercept a single target. On average, Ukraine is targeted by around 500 drones at a time. That would require 1,500 missiles. Meanwhile, a single drone costs about $50,000, whereas a missile for the IRIS-T system costs $800,000.
"It's no secret that only about 200 Patriot [missiles] are produced per year. And we're talking about 500 targets a day! What country can sustain that kind of warfare? The war of the future will be fought with ultra-cheap tools that have ultra-high effectiveness," the former top commander said.
Zaluzhnyi said that what Ukraine needs now is not more people, but "brains and a strategic framework" to quickly master the tactics for deploying new weapons.
"The rise of the Roman Empire, the Mongol-Tatar yoke, the French Empire, and even the Austro-Hungarian Empire was made possible by the emergence of new weapons and the rapid adoption of their tactics. Ukraine, for various reasons, was unable to quickly adopt new technologies. That's the kind of war this will be. If someone is expecting a million soldiers to show up and go chasing chickens out of barns, they're gravely mistaken," the ambassador said.
Earlier reports said that Ukraine would allow foreign arms manufacturers to test their latest products on the front lines in the war against Russia.
On July 11, the European Commission, in partnership with Ukraine, announced the launch of the BraveTech EU initiative aimed at advancing defense innovation by using battlefield-tested technologies and strengthening EU-Ukraine cooperation.
Photo: Valerii Zaluzhnyi / Facebook
