“Any motor vehicle movement will be a valid target.” This chilling announcement, broadcast on Russian military-associated Telegram networks in Kherson, is not just psychological operations it’s a disquieting sign of how unmanned systems and precision missiles have transformed the landscape of contemporary war. In 2025, the war between Russia and Ukraine has been an experimental laboratory for rapid technological adoption, where the ballet of drones, electronic warfare, and intelligent air-to-ground munitions sets the pace for both military strategy and civilian existence.
For defense technology fans and military aviation watchers, recent Ukrainian airstrikes facilitated by French AASM Hammer bombs and incessant drone wars conducted by Russia are a look into the future of conflict. This listicle explores the most engaging developments, operational narratives, and tactical shifts at the heart of this new war.
1. The AASM Hammer Bomb: Ukraine’s Tactical Revolution
France’s AASM Hammer bomb is the backbone of Ukraine’s precision strike capability. Safran-designed AASM transforms commonplace unguided bombs into highly accurate, GPS-and-inertial-guided munitions. Its modularity makes it easy to be compatible with a range of bomb weights 250 kg and 1,000 kg variants are already in use. Significantly, the Hammer’s guidance system is intended to function in GPS-denied environments, an important advantage given Russian electronic warfare. As Le Parisien reported, France is ramping up production to supply 1,200 AASM Hammers to Ukraine in 2025, a bit more than a 40% increase from previous year. Each $300,000 bomb is a tiny fraction of the price of cruise missiles but with an excellent balance of affordability and battlefield punch.
2. Smooth Integration: Western Arms on Soviet Frames
The most impressive war engineering feat has been the rapid adaptation of Western precision-guided weapons to Ukraine’s Soviet-era fighter aircraft. In less than four months, Safran integrated AASM Hammer into MiG-29 and Su-25 fighter jets, attested to by French Defence Minister Sébastien Lecornu. With this technological leap, Ukraine has been able to utilize advanced guided bombs on airframes historically employed by unguided ordnance, extending the lifecycle and utility of aging airframes. The Aviationist wrote about the initial known employment of AASM Hammers on Su-25s in June 2024 as a watershed moment for Ukraine’s capacity for stand-off strikes without being forced to risk exposure to Russian air defenses.
3. Accurate Strikes against Russian Command and Drone Hubs
Drone footage in June 2025 illustrates the devastating effect of Ukrainian MiG-29s delivering AASM Hammers on Russian command hubs and drone pilot stations in Zaporizhzhia and Kursk. Reconnaissance by drones pinpointed high-value targets, such as buildings housing Russian FPV drone pilots who were attacking Kherson. Following the sharing of coordinates, precision attacks were launched by the air force, and video imagery showed complete destruction of targets. These operations demonstrate the interoperability between ISR capabilities and precision weapons, which enable Ukraine to impede Russian drone operations at source. As Militarnyi documented, “Footage demonstrates the bomb hitting the building with great accuracy, annihilating it.”
4. Escalating Drone War: Russia’s FPV and Quadcopter Attacks
Russian forces have heavily added their use of first-person view (FPV) and quadcopter drones with makeshift weapons, particularly in Kherson Oblast. Drone attacks between May and December 2024 killed at least 30 civilians and injured 483 others, according to the Kherson City Council. Human Rights Watch recorded deliberate attacks on civilians, infrastructure, and emergency services. The strikes have resulted in the shutdown of supermarkets, have interfered with public transit, and have contributed to the evacuation of frontline suburbs. The use of commercial drones, such as those by DJI and Autel, illustrates the convenience and versatility of unmanned systems in modern warfare.
5. Electronic Warfare: The Battle for the Electromagnetic Spectrum
There has been considerable investment on both sides in electronic warfare (EW) to counter the proliferation of drones and guided ordnance. Ukraine-based company Kvertus is building a 1,500-kilometer “wall” of jammers and sensors to counter attacking FPV drones on the front lines. Those efforts, such as the Mirage jammers, are intended to fly and jam on a broad spectrum of frequencies for up to 20 hours with the help of battery life. Russia has responded with its own layered approach to electronic warfare by employing vehicle-mounted and portable systems to attack Ukrainian drones. The result is a technological arms race where each technological advancement in jamming is countered by new countermeasures, for instance, the deployment of fiber-optic jam-resistant drones.
6. Fiber-Optic Drones: The New Unmanned Warfare Frontier
To counteract electronic interference, the Russian and Ukrainian military forces both embarked on the deployment of fiber-optic-controlled drones. These systems provide a physical connection between drone and pilot that renders them impervious to traditional jamming. Although the cable limits range and payload, the interference-free, high-bandwidth channel allows steady video streams and precise control in enemy-swamped electromagnetic environments. Twenty certified models or more were being manufactured by January 2025 by Ukrainian producers, with similar innovation among the Russians. The technology is a breakthrough in the game of cat-and-mouse between drone wars, where electromagnetic spectrum control is as valuable as firepower.
7. AI and Autonomy: The Rise of Intelligent Drones
Drones are being quietly revolutionized by artificial intelligence. Ukraine and Russia utilize AI-based modules for autonomous target detection and navigation in FPV and fixed-wing drones. As discussed at a recent CSIS conference, these AI systems allow drones to detect, lock on to, and follow targets with little operator input, even when jammed or losing signal. While full autonomy is yet in its infancy, the trend towards smarter, more resilient unmanned systems is clear. According to Samuel Bendett of CNA, “Russians, like Ukrainians, are also gathering and processing battlefield data… trying to generate data sets for training.”
8. The Human Toll: Drone Strikes on Civilians and Infrastructure
The accessibility of drones has transformed civilian life in contested regions. Human Rights Watch documented several hundred attacks against civilians, ambulances, and critical infrastructure in Kherson, with drones striking people on bicycles, driving, or walking. The attacks have caused widespread fear, forced evacuations, and badly cut off access to essential services. Psychological harm is evident, with residents reporting relentless vigilance listening for the drone hum and keeping a lookout for landmines falling from the air. The deliberate use of drones to terrorize emphasizes the ethical and humanitarian problems posed by modern-day unmanned warfare.
9. The Numbers Game: Mass Production and Attrition
One of the most compelling facts is the sheer number of drones and ammunition production. Ukraine in 2024 produced 2 million drones, with estimates of as much as 5 million for 2025. Russia, on the other hand, was reported to have utilized as many as 4 million UAVs within the same period. This large-scale production of drone warfare, combined with rapid buy and rapid procurement cycles and a thriving volunteer startup culture, has remade the pace and visage of the war. As CSIS’s Kateryna Bondar emphasized, “If you speak to captured soldiers, they tell you that they haven’t seen the soldiers of the other side at all on the front line. So they saw the soldiers for the first time only when they were captured.” The 2025 conflict between Russia and Ukraine is as much an arms competition as it is an arena for technological innovativeness and resilience.
The introduction of precision-guided munitions, the maturity of drone warfare strategy, and the speeding push for electronic superiority are climbing the stakes on modern warfare. Both hobbyists and professionals are faced with these advances as a glimpse of war’s future and as a sobering reminder of the revolutionizing human and strategic consequences of technological development.
