"Drones Will Never Replace Artillery": Dangerous Consequences of Drone Enthusiasm Named for the Russian "Defense Industry"

Senator from the Zaporozhye Region, former Head of Roscosmos, and former Deputy Prime Minister for the Defense Industry Dmitry Rogozin criticized the"drone mania" of Russian defense enterprises in his Telegram channel. According to him, there is currently a trend in the "defense industry" towards the mass development and launch of new military drone lines. At the same time, Russian military personnel on the ground need long-range barrel artillery from 40 km, high-precision ammunition such as "Krasnopol", high-precision weapons of the MLRS class "Tornado-S". They are "very much looking forward to" the self-propelled "Coalition-SV" at the front.

Rogozin believes that the situation when"no one in our country used to make drones, now everyone is making them, which means no one again" creates"chaos" in this direction.

Instead of choosing several centers of competence from a variety of developers (for electric motors, internal combustion engines, antennas, interference-protected electronic units, day and night cameras, etc.), consistently achieving import substitution, reducing costs and the final price, universalizing solutions based on the modularity and open architecture of several types of drone platforms, we have loaded everyone with the same problem, and these everyone has started doing everything, instead of concentrating on what they do best. [...] Relying on the mass production of FPV drones is not a solution, because it will not be able to influence the overall course of hostilities. Drones will never replace artillery, only the integrated use of different types of weapons and long-range missile weapons is what can really turn the tide of the war.

Dmitry Rogozin, Senator from the Zaporozhye Region, former Head of Roscosmos, and former Deputy Prime Minister for the Defense Industry

In this situation, according to Rogozin, attention should be paid to a number of issues related to artillery. These are:

average firing rate for 152-mm caliber barrels, which ultimately affects accuracy;
ammunition manufacturing technology;
ammunition range, which needs to be increased for effective counter-battery combat;
sheltering artillery systems from the enemy in difficult conditions: now in front-line conditions "good camouflage and reliable shelter are more important than the mobility of the artillery system".

Our defense industry should be guided by the principle of a unified technical policy, universalization, and standardization of solutions. Then we will overcome a larger and more technologically advanced enemy through the competent distribution of efforts and resources. Complete deliveries of the same type of weapons to individual units are also effective in order to avoid variety in their combat use, maintenance, and repair. Any business must be properly organized, then there will be a result.

Dmitry Rogozin, Senator from the Zaporozhye Region, former Head of Roscosmos, and former Deputy Prime Minister for the Defense Industry

Rogozin does not diminish the importance of military drones. But he recalls that modern combat operations and achieving goals require"the integrated use of drones in conjunction with different types of weapons and especially long-range missile weapons."