The Queen of the Battle the "Infantry" has continued to slog through battles and the scenario does not appear to have changed during the recent Russia Ukraine War. A dominant feature of the War is ‘trench’ warfare with many historians harking back on the trenches of the First World War as Ukrainian infantry resolutely defended territory and attacks were grindingly slow moving virtually in metres every day in 2023-24 once the battle lines were settled.
Two developments that are making a difference is emergence of First Person View [FPV] drones and Loitering Munitions.
FPV drones provide a live ‘top view’ video feed to the soldier ‘pilot’ of the front line thus generating high level of situational awareness to the frontline fighter which is unprecedented. Previously soldiers on the battlefield depended on ground observation even with improved optical or thermal imaging devices and were blind from the top.
Now with an FPV, the soldier can gauge what is happening on an enemy in the defences in the trenches or in the Forming Up Place in an attack.
The top view comes from an object which is difficult to detect and thus has a natural aerial camouflage. It is as if the soldier has his own mini satellite in the sky.
Supplemented by loitering munitions, the lethality and accuracy potential on the battlefield has been substantially enhanced.
Loitering munitions are essentially Unmanned Aerial Vehicles [UAVs] with a warhead that loiters in a designated area launching the explosive once an opportunity target emerges either autonomously or on instructions from the pilot.
The "loitering" capability means that these are omnipresent on the battlefield and can be utilized by forward tactical units based on the emerging situation to target an enemy bunker in an attack on the infantry and/or tanks forming up for an assault on a defended locality.
This is of course a simplistic illustration with varied combinations that can be worked out based on the range, loiter times and payloads.
Unlike a missile, however this offers high level of precision and targeting potential to the forward deployed frontline units.
While FPV drones are essentially tools of the battlefield commander, loitering munitions can be used at multiple levels from the tactical to the strategic.
Here we are restricting to the battlefield use and this will necessitate a change in which the Infantry man will fight in the future armed with his own personal tool for observing the battlefield from the ‘top,’ and weapon for ‘top’ attack.
Given that tank and infantry fighting vehicles are vulnerable for top attacks on the weakest portion of the armour, the loitering munition will be particularly effective.
However, to be operative, the quantity of FPVs or Loitering Munitions deployed must be substantial in number – this was evident in the Ukraine War where hundreds of drones were deployed on the battlefield many innovated by soldiers working just behind the frontline.
In a scenario where battlefield transparency is afforded to the soldier on the front line there will be a premium on camouflage and concealment from the top, dispersion and distributed pattern of assault. It is not surprising thus that lives of hundreds of Russian and Ukrainian soldiers fighting in the trenches.
While Indian Army is learning lessons from the war in Ukraine fast, there will have to be premium on adapting to the way the infantry fights on the ground with FPVs and Loitering Munitions for that is the cutting edge which determine how skirmishes are won which in turn will dictate the outcomes of larger battles and wars.
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