Ukraine's Navy Commander says drones can't replace ships in war

Roman Romaniuk, Tetiana Lozovenko — Thursday, 11 January 2024, 10:47

Oleksii Neizhpapa. Photo: Ukrainska Pravda

Vice Admiral Oleksii Neizhpapa, Commander of the Navy of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, has emphasised that it will take more than just drones to defeat Russia at sea.

Source: Neizhpapa in an interview with Ukrainska Pravda (the interview will soon be translated into English)

Quote: "We will get to the point, and this is not the first time I have said this, that the war of the future will be a war of drones against drones. This is how it will be.

But the sea has a certain nonlinearity. Therefore, to say that only these medicines are suitable for this disease, and the rest can be thrown away, I will never say that. Yes, drones are another way to kill the ruscists. I agree with this, it works. But there are certain limitations to the use of these tools. First of all, it's their size, weapons, and ability to withstand weather conditions – a lot of things that distinguish them from a ship..

[...] Simply switching the fleet to drones and winning won't work. It would be like the Army giving up tanks, armoured personnel carriers, guns and everything else.

[...] You can consider a territory yours only when your soldier or marine has a boot on it. Then it is your territory. The same is true at sea. When you have a ship in these territorial waters, and no one can do anything with it, only then is it your sea."

Details: Neizhpapa emphasised that any war is the development of military technologies and the enemy's development of assets to counter these technologies. He thinks this is the only way to understand whether something "is working or not."

In particular, the Navy Commander emphasised that some Ukrainian tricks and tactics practised in 2022 and 2023 will no longer work in 2024.

Quote: "The enemy will use drones at sea in the same way as it uses them on land. The enemy is also learning, it also has a powerful industrial complex, and the Russians have always had money to spend on weapons. Therefore, we are facing very difficult drone wars ahead."

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