Bendett on new combat rules — why NATO needs Ukraine’s drones

The evolution of Ukrainian unmanned systems no longer looks like a chaotic collection of solutions — it is a rapid path from regimental improvisation to unified rules of interoperability with NATO. According to the expert, standardization significantly increases operational effectiveness, reduces logistical strain, and speeds up equipment recovery after losses.

This was written by Samuel Bendett, an adviser at the Center for Naval Analyses (CNA), an adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) and a nonresident fellow at CSIS, in an opinion column for Novyny.LIVE.

From tactical invention to alliance rules

Ukrainian units created hundreds of local solutions for air, land and sea, but now it is time to organize these developments into unified technical and procedural standards that will withstand EW strikes and logistical challenges, Bendett notes.

Without harmonized requirements, armies face chaos in warehouses, questionable firmware compatibility and complicated maintenance — unified principles simplify procurement and make platforms intelligible to allies, he argues. For NATO this is a path to interoperability: when platforms "speak" the same protocols, they are easier to integrate into training, logistics and operational planning.

"War teaches fast. Ukraine has created hundreds of solutions for air, land and sea, but victory belongs not to diversity, but to the ability to sustain tempo and interoperability," Bendett said.

Key nodes of the standards — the communications channel, telemetry and targeting — make platforms from different manufacturers functionally unified, while standardized connectors and battery modules speed up repairs in the field. Mass production of simple, repairable systems and standard procedures return units to service in minutes rather than days, which is critical during intensive use under EW pressure, the author emphasizes.

"Uncrewed surface platforms have broken the conventional model of control in the Black Sea. They have reduced risks to crews, opened new routes and forced the enemy to rethink port and fairway security," Bendett is convinced.

Most inexpensive components now come from China, and although they can be replaced, without large-scale production this substantially raises costs, Bendett believes. The optimal solution is a combination of imported serial parts with local manufacture of critical elements — batteries, engines, optics and printed circuit boards.

Samuel Bendett concludes that Ukrainian drones and NATO are entering an era of synchronization: when units combine mass production, repairability and a common "data language," a tempo emerges that truly changes and re-equips the battlefield.

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