Ukraine’s War Tactics Evolve Weekly—Why Isn’t Australia Keeping Up? General Asks

Australia’s defence establishment ‘lacks a robust learning and adaptation culture suited to the pace of change in the 21st century,’ Mick Ryan warns.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (R) and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Oleksandr Syrsky (L) speak next to the first batch of Ukrainian made drone missiles "Peklo" (Hell) delivered to the Defence Forces of Ukraine in Kyiv on Dec. 6, 2024. Genya Savilov/AFP via Getty Images)

The Ukraine-Russia War has revolutionised battlefield tactics, but Australia appears to be slow on the uptake, says one retired major general.

“This accelerating learning and adaptation cycle may be the most transformative development to emerge from the war,” Ryan said, in an article for the Lowy Institute.

Ryan, who spent 35 years in the Australian Army and is a senior fellow at Lowy, said the lessons from the Ukraine war appeared to have “minimal impact on the Australian Defence Force.”

Tactics Evolving Almost Weekly

Among the notable changes is the ability for tech companies and front line military units to communicate directly to ensure the latest technology is being used.

One example is Ukraine’s “drone wall,” which now incorporates new “interceptor” drones that can counteract Russian attacks.

Another development is what Ryan calls the “next-generation” of drone warfare: “drones carrying other drones.”

Ukrainian drone units often adapt their software daily and evolve their tactics every 1 to 2 weeks.

While Russia has also “learned to learn” and has sped up its equipment and munition cycles, often copying Ukrainian methods.

Russian and Ukrainian combined-arms tactics are estimated to evolve every 2 to 3 months.

The rest of the world has also been watching, Ryan says, and is being adopted globally with the grim warning that the “sharing of ideas and technologies” is also occurring among authoritarian states.

A Cambodian officer inspects drones and a machine-gun equipped robot battle “dog” that are displayed for CCP PLA soldiers during a joint drill at a military police base in Kampong Chhnang Province, Cambodia, on May 16, 2024. Tang Chhin Sothytang Chhin Sothy/AFP via Getty Images

Australia Too Focused on Big Expensive Drones

Ryan warned Australia had missed the “revolution” in uncrewed systems and counter-drone warfare, and that successive governments have cut funding over the last five years.

As a result, he claims, Australia’s ability to conduct counter-drone operations to protect deployed forces and critical infrastructure “is near zero.”

He acknowledges that the Australian Defence Force does deploy “a few” drones, but says it remains “addicted to small quantities of exquisite and expensive weapon platforms built overseas, such as the Triton uncrewed aircraft.”

The Northrop Grumman-built Triton unmanned aircraft system in a file photo. US Navy/Northrop Grumman/Bob Brown/Handout via Reuters

However, the most serious problem hampering Australia’s uptake of new technology is that Defence “lacks a robust learning and adaptation culture suited to the pace of change in the 21st century.”

“Ukrainian industry representatives spend time at the front to collect insights direct from soldiers, and industry representatives are present for drone mission debriefs to improve the quality of future long-range strike drones,” he notes.

“No similar capacity exists within the Australian Department of Defence.”

Senior leaders are not encouraged to take risks, Ryan claims, and refer major decisions to committees. A desk job in Canberra is seen as the pathway to promotion, rather than field command.

“Decision making, and therefore modernisation, moves at a glacial pace,” he says.

“To be effective in 21st century war, Defence must shift its promotion and incentive structures to ensure there are more of what Andrew Gordon describes in [his book] The Rules of the Game as ‘ratcatchers’ and fewer managerial ’regulators,’” Ryan advises.

While it’s not what observers first expected to come from the Ukraine war, it’s likely that the application of artificial intelligence and “human-algorithmic teaming” (military personnel working directly with AI) will further accelerate the pace and breadth of military learning and adaptation in the coming years, he predicts.