The war in Ukraine isn’t just a test of will between Kyiv and Moscow; it’s a preview of how future wars will be fought. Drones, cheap robotics, AI, and electronic warfare aren’t sideshows anymore. They’re the main event.
On June 1st, drones operated by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) destroyed over 40 strategic bombers and transport aircraft deep inside Russia, a loss comparable to the 1905 sinking of the Russian fleet, with potentially serious political consequences for Putin and his inner circle. Ukraine isn’t just surviving, it’s writing the playbook for 21st-century warfare.
If the United States wants to stay ahead of its adversaries, it must stop watching from the sidelines and adapt now.
Let’s be honest: Ukraine is doing what the US defense establishment only talks about. It’s innovating on the battlefield at a speed the Pentagon can’t match. And it’s doing it under fire.
Ukraine Innovates in Drone Warfare
Over the past three years, Ukraine has become a wartime laboratory for low-cost, high-impact military technology. First-person-view (FPV) drones, often assembled in garages and deployed within days, are now destroying tanks and command posts for just a few hundred dollars each. Sea drones have forced Russia’s Black Sea Fleet to retreat from Crimea to safer harbors.
In a historic first, a robotic naval vessel even shot down a Russian Su-30 fighter jet. Long-range drone strikes have hit oil refineries, slashing Russian production by up to 900,000 barrels per day. Meanwhile, thousands of kamikaze drones are offsetting shortages in manpower and artillery.
America is behind not only in unmanned systems but also in electronic warfare, battlefield automation, and the ability to adapt to real-time combat conditions quickly. These gaps are strategic liabilities.
General Valerii Zaluzhnyi, Ukraine’s former commander-in-chief and now ambassador to the UK, put it plainly: the side that masters drones and radio-electronic warfare will win. That’s not just a statement about this war. It’s a warning about the next one.
How Can the United States Modernize Its Military?
First, America must stop seeing Ukraine as just a recipient of aid. Ukraine is a partner and arguably an unequaled source of battlefield-tested innovation. The US should move now to integrate Ukrainian defense startups and wartime experience into its military-industrial ecosystem.
The Ukrainians have already proposed one vehicle: using the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) to invest in defense co-production. It’s a smart policy; it gives Ukraine funding and legitimacy. It provides the US access to proven technologies, from UAVs and sea drones to low-cost robotic platforms and field-ready AI.
In addition, the US needs a broader, more systematic approach: it must create Ukrainian technology hubs in the US and the UK to enable American manufacturers and investors to collaborate directly with Ukrainian designers and engineers, who are developing battlefield solutions in real time. This approach will bring them closer to the National Technology and Industrial Base. These tech hubs will allow Ukrainian startups to work directly with Western manufacturers, investors, and research labs.
The US must cut red tape. Ukraine’s innovation cycle moves quickly because it isn’t bogged down by bureaucracy. US export controls and tech transfer rules were built for a different era. The US must match Ukraine’s speed by updating how it handles battlefield-relevant technology and dual-use tools.
Facilitate horizontal cooperation; military to military, engineer to engineer, company to company. Establish direct communication channels. Let the National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA) and the Association of the United States Army (AUSA) engage directly with the Ukrainian military and defense industry. Organize “lessons learned” roundtables that bring together military personnel, designers, and manufacturers. Also, set up a vetting platform for promising Ukrainian designs. The Ukrainians are eager to share what they’ve learned. We should be just as keen to listen.
Working with Ukraine Will Give the United States Greater National Security
This isn’t just about Ukraine; it’s about interest, America’s interest in a broader security picture that’s getting more dangerous daily.
Russia’s growing military cooperation with Iran and North Korea, combined with its tightening relationship with China, is already accelerating their drone and EW programs. These regimes are learning from each other. Here’s the hard truth: China will if America doesn’t learn from Ukraine. It already is. Chinese-made components are all over the battlefield on both sides. And Beijing is watching Ukraine’s war as a dry run for Taiwan.
President Trump recently said in his West Point address that the US military is studying drone warfare in Ukraine. That’s a start. But learning is not the same as doing. If we wait for the Pentagon to absorb lessons while Ukraine burns slowly, we’ll lose the window to act decisively.
A deeper US-Ukrainian defense partnership doesn’t require sending American troops to the front and doesn’t mean endless funding. If Ukraine can innovate to a strategic stalemate against the so-called second-largest army in the world, just imagine what the US could achieve by integrating and scaling those same capabilities.
Ukraine’s war is not America’s war, but it is America’s warning. We’ve been here before. The Spanish Civil War was a proving ground for World War II, and Ukraine is our early warning system now.
If we miss this moment, we won’t get another.
source: Center for the National Interest
