Cheap, scalable, disruptive: How drones are changing warfare
KUALA LUMPUR: Drones, once seen as playing a supporting role in combat, are reshaping the battlefield.
Recent conflicts have highlighted the utility of unmanned systems, from surveilling the enemy, delivering munitions with precision, to clearing booby traps and mines by triggering them.
The New Straits Times examines how drones are redefining warfare, enabling combatants to sustain pressure on adversaries.
CHANGING COMBAT
For decades, air power was defined by high-value platforms - fighter jets, bombers and missiles.
Today, smaller, cheaper and far more expendable drones are challenging this model.
Malaysian Institute of Defence and Security (MiDAS) Technology Comparative Study Centre director Colonel Maimunah Omar said the use of drones is a structural shift in how wars are fought.
"What we are seeing is not just a rise in drone usage, but a shift in the character of modern conflict.
"Unmanned systems are no longer mere 'add-ons' to traditional arsenals. They are becoming the backbone of sustained campaigns.
"Drones allow states and armed groups to impose costs over time, stretch an adversary's air defences and maintain pressure without depleting high-end missile stockpiles."
She said their ability to sustain pressure without exhausting costly resources makes drones highly effective.
"Drones excel at attritional warfare, harassment and economic disruption.
"They generate strategic pressure even without catastrophic destruction, while missiles are increasingly reserved for symbolic or high-value strikes."
Chasseur Group defence and security analyst Munira Mustaffa said the transformation has been unfolding for years.
Beyond their physical impact, she said drones are reshaping the information battlefield, turning every strike into a potential psychological operation.
"UAVs have been used to capture footage of combat deaths, including soldiers' final moments, which is then disseminated to demoralise the adversary and shape public perception of the war.
"The convergence of those roles into a low-cost platform is what makes the shift fundamental, not the introduction of any single technology," she said.
CHEAP DRONES VS COSTLY DE-FENCES
The appeal of drones can be boiled down to economics: they are far cheaper to expend than to shoot down.
Over time, the expense of countering cheap drones can drain even the most advanced militaries.
Maimunah said this cost asym-metry is forcing a rethink that goes beyond tactics.
"The rise of small, inexpensive drones has created a profound cost exchange challenge, forcing militaries to rethink not only how they fight, but also how they spend.
"Warfare is no longer defined by technological superiority; it is equally about economic sustainability.
"In this new equation, scale matters as much as sophistication, if not more.
"Low-cost drones can be produced and deployed in large numbers, sus-taining campaigns and exhausting defences at a fraction of the cost of missiles or jets," she said, citing Iran's widespread use of drones as an example.
"Iranian Shahed drones, estimat-ed to cost tens of thousands of dollars, have forced defenders to expend interceptor missiles costing millions per launch.
"This cost imbalance is not just tactical but strategic, as sustained drone attacks can drain air defence stockpiles, forcing even advanced militaries into unfavourable calculations.
"In Ukraine, drones have proven equally transformative, used at scale for attack and defence.
"Cheap interceptor drones cost-ing a few thousand dollars are now deployed in large numbers to counter incoming threats, achieving effective results while preserving expensive missile systems."
Munira said the debate should not be reduced to a simple trade-off between quantity and quality.
"The framing of mass versus tech-nological superiority is misleading.
"Drones are preferred not sim-ply because they can be deployed in numbers, but because they offer a cost-effective combination of scale, precision and attrition capability that conventional platforms cannot match."
Crucially, drones are not replacing traditional systems, but reshaping how they are used together.
"Conventional air defence remains necessary and will not be displaced.
"The lesson is that drones and con-ventional air defence are not competing investments.
'They are layered capabilities that, used in combination, provide far greater deterrent and attrition value than either would alone.
"The accessibility of drone tech-nology is also lowering the barrier to entry for conflict, extending its reach beyond state militaries," she said.
Munira said the risks posed by such systems have been realised.
"Commercialisation has made drone technology widely accessible, and non-state actors are well-practised at modifying off-the-shelf platforms for operational purposes, whether for surveillance, strike, or psychological effect."
MALAYSIA'S PATH
Drones are already shaping Malaysia's military doctrines.
As unmanned systems become cheaper and more accessible, the challenge is no longer just acquiring capability, but countering it.
The affordability, adaptability and ease of use of drones make them a growing threat to critical infrastruc-ture and military assets.
The highest echelons of the Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) are attuned to these concerns.
In July last year, RMAF chief General Datuk Seri Muhamad Norazlan Aris said the air force is ramping up its anti-drone capabilities, as these cheap and effective devices are a growing threat.
At the same time, Malaysia is also strengthening its unmanned capabilities.
The RMAF is set to operate the TAI Anka, a medium-altitude long-endurance platform designed for surveillance and strike.
The system's extended loiter time and reconnaissance capabilities are expected to be particularly useful to monitor Malaysia's vast maritime zones.
Other branches of the armed forces operate a range of drone systems, ranging from DJI, Polish-made Flyeye, Boeing's InSitu ScanEagle and others.
Maimunah said Malaysia has a framework to build on such capabilities and reduce reliance on foreign systems over time.
"The National Defence Industry Policy provides Malaysia with a framework to move from depend-ence on foreign systems toward building indigenous unmanned vehicles.
"By mandating a minimum 30 per cent local content in defence procurement and enforcing tech-nology transfer through the Indus-trial Collaboration Programme (ICP), the policy creates opportunities for Malaysian firms to develop critical components and systems."
Beyond acquisition, the longer-term goal is to build resilience through a strong domestic ecosystem, she said.
Munira said Malaysia's approach must be grounded in its strategic realities rather than global trends.
"Malaysia's approach to this question has to begin from a clear eyed assessment of its security priorities.
"The more important question is whether Malaysia has the doc-trine, training, and institutional frameworks to integrate UAVs into its force structure, rather than acquiring capabilities without the strategic architecture to use them effectively."
