A new kind of war is emerging. One not defined by tank columns, cruise missiles, or infantry assaults, but by the faint hum of small propellers. The wars of the twenty-first century are increasingly decided by inconspicuous machines: drones that are cheaper than anti-tank missiles, more precise than artillery, and psychologically more effective than any propaganda. What began with the first targeted drone strikes by the United States in Afghanistan has, in less than two decades, evolved into a global revolution in warfare. Kamikaze drones. Designed to find and destroy their targets are now present in almost every modern conflict. They combine the flexibility of a reconnaissance drone with the destructive power of a bomb. The war in Ukraine has become the most visible laboratory of this transformation. Both Kyiv and Moscow have shifted the battlefield into a new, vertical dimension. Reports suggest that the Ukrainian side alone loses several thousand drones each month. A figure that underscores how these systems have ceased to be rare pieces of high technology and have become consumable tools of war. The so-called FPV drone (“first-person view”) symbolizes this change. Originally developed for the hobby scene, it is now fitted with explosive charges and flown in a steep dive toward its target. Costing only a few hundred dollars, it can cripple armored vehicles worth millions. On both sides, large numbers of tanks and personnel carriers have fallen victim to these improvised precision weapons. Russia, in turn, has developed its own versions. Most notably the Lancet drone, produced by ZALA Aero. The Lancet is considered a precision loitering munition with a range of several dozen kilometers.
Iran and the Middle East – The Globalization of Drone Warfare
Few nations recognized the potential of this technology as early as Iran. Its armed forces and Revolutionary Guards have built an entire arsenal of kamikaze drones: the Shahed-131 and Shahed-136 have become synonymous with the drone war. These systems are not only used domestically. They are exported to the Houthi rebels in Yemen, to Hezbollah in Lebanon, and to Russia. Tehran has thus become a pivotal actor in the global drone landscape – a geopolitical power built not on expensive armaments, but on affordable technology.
The Houthi attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea in late 2023 demonstrated the strategic value of such weapons. They threatened international trade routes, forced Western navies into action, and drove up transport and insurance costs worldwide. A drone worth barely a thousand dollars can inflict damage worth millions. An asymmetric weapon par excellence.
Africa – The New Battleground
This new form of warfare has now reached Africa. In Sudan, Libya, and especially Mali, FPV drones are appearing with growing frequency, directly inspired by tactics pioneered in Ukraine. In northern Mali, fighters of the “Front Populaire de Libération de l’Azawad“ (FLA) used kamikaze drones for the first time in 2025 against Malian forces and their Russian partners. Videos show attacks on vehicles and fortified positions. Often using inexpensive, improvised systems, yet with considerable psychological effect. Even jihadist organizations such as the “Groupe de Soutien à l’Islam et aux Musulmans“ (GSIM), Al-Qaeda’s Sahel affiliate, have adopted similar tactics. This development marks a strategic turning point. Technologies once reserved for high-tech states and their allies are now being replicated by non-state actors.
Taiwan, China, and the Shadow of Future Wars
Across the Indo-Pacific, drone technology is becoming a central element of strategic deterrence. China today ranks among the world’s leading producers of small and medium-sized drones. Companies such as DJI, CASC, and AVIC dominate the civilian market, while research institutions linked to the People’s Liberation Army are developing swarm-drone concepts – hundreds of miniature UAVs operating in coordinated attack formations.
For Taiwan, this trend is a wake-up call. The island knows it cannot meet a potential invasion with conventional force alone. Instead, it has embraced an asymmetric defense strategy prioritizing flexible, low-cost, high-impact weapons. According to the Financial Times (March 2024), Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense announced plans to produce or procure several thousand kamikaze drones over the coming years. The aim is to deter or, if necessary, disrupt a Chinese landing through massed, autonomous counter-attacks.
The Psychology of the Drone
Drones are more than weapons. They are altering the very perception of war itself.For the operator, often stationed hundreds of kilometers away, an attack becomes a technical procedure, stripped of the human immediacy that once defined combat. For the victim, the strike is invisible, silent, and inescapable. Studies show that drone warfare exerts a dual psychological effect: it de-emotionalizes the perpetrator while over-emotionalizing the victim. A finding documented in reports by Amnesty International and Stanford Law School, which describe how living under constant drone surveillance generates fear, trauma, and helplessness.
From Technology to Geopolitics
The proliferation of kamikaze drones has forged a new geopolitical reality. Where heavy weapons once symbolized power, influence today can be achieved through the export of affordable technology. Iran uses its drones to entrench influence across the Middle East. China leverages drone technology to create markets and dependencies. And Turkey, with its Bayraktar TB2, has established a global brand of power projection. The logic is clear: in modern geopolitics, control of the skies no longer requires air superiority. Only innovation, adaptability, and reach.
Outlook
Drone warfare has crossed the threshold toward full automation. What we witness in Ukraine, Yemen, or Mali is merely the beginning. The convergence of artificial intelligence, facial recognition, and autonomous navigation points toward a future in which warfare can operate without direct human involvement. Western states are responding cautiously but the trend is irreversible. The next generation of conflicts will be decided not only by mass, but also by intelligence, precision, and miniaturization.
The kamikaze drone epitomizes the new phase of geopolitical reality. Cheap, flexible, hard to intercept, and politically potent. Within it converge the three forces that define warfare: technology, information control, and psychology. Just as the machine gun reshaped the battlefields of the twentieth century, the drone will shape the strategic thinking of the twenty-first.
In the end, war has lost its familiar face – and perhaps a part of its conscience as well.