Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has highlighted the prevalence of loitering munitions and forced armies to rethink how they deliver and survive fires. The technology offers inexpensive precision, with some observers dubbing it a “wonder weapon”; but small warheads and susceptibility to electronic warfare cap its lethality. Loitering munitions won’t replace traditional artillery’s massed, sustained fires, but their integration will decisively reshape artillery doctrine and force design.
What are Loitering Munitions?
Loitering munitions are single-use weapons designed to find and confirm a target before destroying it by crashing into it. Although often labeled “suicide” or “kamikaze” drones, they’re better understood as a distinct class because the munition itself is expended on impact.
Loitering Munitions in Conflict
Loitering munitions were first deployed in the 1990s for the Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses (SEAD) role against Surface to Air Missile (SAM) installations. Over the next decades, the role of loitering munitions expanded and by the early 2000s, modern loitering munitions appeared on battlefields in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Yemen.
The most notable modern deployment of loitering munitions came in the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war, where Azerbaijan used Israeli-made Harop loitering munitions to successfully suppress Armenian air defenses and strike armored targets, demonstrating their value in conventional combat. In Ukraine, both sides of the conflict have also fielded such systems at scale. Russia’s Lancet 3 has been essential in easing the constraints of their artillery shortage, albeit with limited lethality against hardened targets. Similarly, while the Ukrainian Armed Forces have deployed hundreds of AeroVironment Switchblades with localized success, they still rely heavily on traditional artillery.
How Loitering Munitions Impact Artillery Use in Conflict
As a low-cost, expendable alternative to traditional missiles that can be mass-deployed, loitering munitions have widened access to precision effects, bringing new threats to soldiers and equipment on the battlefield. Loitering munitions impact artillery use in three major ways: (1) pushing precision to the tactical edge, (2) raising the threat to static gunlines, and (3) accelerating counterbattery timelines.
Loitering munitions push precision to the tactical edge, enabling small units to bypass traditional artillery’s logistical constraints and strike time-sensitive targets, thereby increasing operational flexibility. The threat to gunlines has risen accordingly, as persistent overhead search renders any static battery a target. With the addition of loitering munitions in conflict, batteries must now disperse, camouflage, and move more often to survive. Additionally, artillery must be co-sited with the appropriate counter-drone and electronic warfare (EW) protection to ensure survival of deployed loitering munitions and survival against enemy loitering munitions. At the same time, loitering munitions can orbit likely firing areas and pounce the moment a trajectory or radar cue appears, compressing counterbattery timelines and allowing shooters to be engaged without waiting for tube or rocket cycles.
Limitations of Loitering Munitions
Loitering munitions may sharpen targeting and add flexibility, but they suffer from various vulnerabilities. A typical loitering munition payload is far smaller than a 155mm high explosive shell, often producing less destructive effects (e.g. Switchblade 600 Anti-Armor loitering munition carries a payload of ~33lbs, while M107 155mm HE shell carries a payload of ~95lbs). Lessons from Ukraine show that mass still matters and nations are surging artillery production accordingly. Smaller payloads limit effects against armored or hardened targets, and layered counter-UAS defenses increasingly blunt attacks. Effectiveness is further constrained by a vulnerability to electronic warfare and weather. Jamming and spoofing are prevalent, poor visibility can degrade sensors, and wind can affect flight control. Taken together, these limits make loitering munitions a complement to, not a substitute for, traditional artillery.
Integrating Loitering Munitions
Loitering munitions are an important fire support asset that can be better utilized within armed forces. Integration can be optimized through a focus on organization, procurement, and protection. Organize by creating loitering munition platoons inside artillery and maneuver battalions and choosing variants that let company and battalion levels produce the proper effects in their areas of operation. Procure a diverse mix of loitering munitions, including short, medium, and long-range, including anti-radiation options to cover different target sets. Protect every gun position by embedding counter-drone and EW coverage.
Loitering munitions are best understood as a precision layer that enhances artillery’s mass layer. Forces that fuse them will dominate future conflict. Forces that try to replace artillery with loitering munitions will be outgunned.
Anna Miskelley has cultivated a deep interest in global security, emerging technologies, and military systems throughout her academic and professional career. She is currently a Defense Industry Analyst with Forecast International.
Before joining Forecast International, Anna was a research fellow at the Center for Security, Innovation, and New Technology, where she researched the impact of artificial intelligence on U.S. nuclear command and control systems. Proficient in Mandarin Chinese, Anna has published research on topics including strategic stability, internal Chinese politics, and artificial intelligence.
