DSEI 2025: Ukraine-Russia conflict has changed war “irrevocably”
In his first public address to the UK defence industrial base since taking office, the new head of the UK military said that technological innovations in the Ukraine war had not yet delivered a solution capable of breaking the current deadlock.
Speaking on 10 September in a keynote speech at DSEI 2025, Chief of the Defence Staff Air Marshal Richard Knighton, who recently took over from the outgoing Admiral Tony Radakin, told delegates that a “resurgent” Russia was seeking to “extend its borders westwards”.
However, despite technological advances perhaps best exemplified in the widespread adoption by both Ukraine and Russia of small FPV drones for reconnaissance and strike purposes, the war as slowed to a grinding contest of attrition, with World War 1-style trench systems and mass casualties.
“The culture of war has changed, perhaps irrevocably,” Knighton said, but cautioned that the Ukraine-Russia war was a “conflict where advances in tech have not provide decisive for either side”.
Earlier this year, it was reported by Army Technology that up to 80% of battlefield casualties in the Ukraine war were being caused by small drones, a vast shift from 2022-2024 where artillery and conventional capabilities were the most lethal.
The proliferation of drones across the battlefield has also changed the structure of military formations – with dedicated FPV strike teams deploying dozens of drones up and down the frontline – and also changed the topography. Main supply routes are now lined with netting to prevent enemy drone ingress, while resupply to forward units is being performed by drones.
Conventional armour has proved to particularly vulnerable when isolated with small drones providing an asymmetric edge. In 2024T, the British Army confided that it is exploring the use of so-called cope-cages on its Challenger 2 tanks to protect against drone threats.
Knighton: speed is key
Taking the helm of an UK military still years away from fielding much-needed modern platforms, Knighton said that the speed of platform and capability delivery was paramount.
“We have spent the last 25 years driving efficiency, prioritising cost and perfection over time,” Knighton warned. “That approach will not deliver the rate of change we need.”
Citing the defence budget investment from the UK government and strategy outlined in the recently released Defence Industrial Strategy, Knighton said it was imperative to “open up” military systems and architectures to non-traditional industry, conceding that this could be “uncomfortable” for the primes.
“We need industry to step up,” Knighton said, adding that defence industry shareholders should go further in investing their own finances to drive capability development and innovation.
