Helicopter air assaults once symbolized the decisive strike behind enemy lines. Today, their role is fading as small, inexpensive drones paralyze logistics at a fraction of the cost and risk.

The Helicopter Assault: A High-Cost Lightning Strike

The helicopter air assault became a battlefield icon in the late 20^th century. Its purpose was simple yet ambitious: land troops deep behind enemy lines, disrupt command, cut supply routes, and sow panic. However, this approach demands dozens of aircraft, hundreds of troops, the neutralization of layered air defenses, and a carefully synchronized ground offensive. It is also associated with a high risk of human loss and high costs.

To deploy even a battalion tactical group—roughly 600 paratroopers—requires 20–40 transport helicopters such as Mi-8s or UH-60s, supported by heavily armed escorts like the Ka-52, Mi-24, or AH-64 Apache. The mission demands prior suppression of enemy air defenses with artillery, fighter aircraft, and electronic warfare.

The price tag is staggering. A single such operation can cost $20–40 million, accounting for fuel, ammunition, machine wear, and personnel preparation. The risks are equally severe: modern MANPADS and radar-guided guns can inflict losses of up to 30 percent of the helicopter fleet if enemy defenses are not neutralized. A few helicopters lost with their troops aboard can turn a lightning raid into a strategic disaster.

Still, this method has a distinct strength: the sudden capture of large facilities that cannot be neutralized remotely. Bridges, railway hubs, and command headquarters all demand a physical presence. When successful, a helicopter assault can do more than disrupt supply lines—it can create the conditions for encircling entire enemy formations.

Drone Mining: Silent Strangulation of Logistics

By contrast, drone-enabled mining is emerging as the low-cost alternative for disrupting enemy rear areas. And while drones cannot seize targets in the traditional sense, there have already been documented cases of enemy soldiers being captured and escorted to Ukrainian positions by drones alone.

A drone operation can be carried out by a handful of operators with quadcopters and improvised munitions capable of halting supply convoys. Yet the effect on the battlefield is strikingly similar: rear-area logistics grind to a halt, leaving frontline units starved of fuel, ammunition, and medical support. Even basic quadcopters with a 1–3 kilogram payload can deliver anti-vehicle mines like the PTM-1 or PTM-3 onto roads, bridges, or choke points up to 15–20 kilometers behind the front line.

Larger drones such as Ukraine’s Supercam or Russia’s Shaheds can extend this reach, dropping mines or small bombs deep in hostile rear zones. The tactic is cumulative: each detonation halts supply convoys, while the constant threat forces enemies to reroute or expend scarce engineers on road clearance.

The economics are stark. A week-long drone mining campaign requires just 10–15 heavy quadcopters, 50–100 mines, and about 25 personnel, at a total cost of $1–1.5 million. This is about 30 times cheaper than a helicopter assault with a broadly similar impact on logistics. Losses are tolerable—electronic warfare may down some drones, but many succeed, while operators remain safely distant from combat.

The Drone Age Redefines Doctrine

Helicopter assaults are not gone; they remain the only way to physically seize key terrain in depth. Yet in an era of dense air defenses and constrained budgets, drones are becoming the default tool of deep disruption. The transition is more than technological—it is doctrinal.

A helicopter assault is a lightning strike — a gamble on sudden shock and disarray. Drone-laid mines, by contrast, are the constrictor’s slow squeeze, cutting off the enemy’s lifelines inch by inch. Modern warfare suggests that with limited resources, strangulation can yield effects comparable to shock — at far lower cost in men and machines. But it demands time and persistence.

Thus, the question commanders face today is not whether to raid or mine, but whether they need results now or if they can take their time to “suffocate” the enemy.

Emerging Drones Will Redefine What Drones Already Changed

Drones are now integral in delivering essential supplies such as food, water, medical aid, and even weapons to soldiers in remote or contested zones. Recently, a drone-delivered e-bike enabled a wounded soldier to flee the battlefield.

Ukraine is testing aerial platforms for evacuating wounded soldiers, according to General Oleksandr Syrskyi, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. This will save the lives of not only the soldiers but also the evacuation teams.

Military man Serafim Gordienko believes that aerial reconnaissance, as we know it, may soon disappear from the battlefield. Within the reconnaissance-strike loop, he stresses, reconnaissance is decisive: without visual confirmation, strike missions are rarely launched, and strike platforms almost never search independently.

Russia, he warns, has created layered FPV interceptor networks that carve out “kill zones” 15 to 20 kilometers deep into its rear. Daytime reconnaissance drones now face near-certain destruction, while night flights offer only temporary relief as Moscow expands its coverage. Even drones flying at altitudes of 4,000–5,000 meters are not escaping detection and targeting. The result is stark: large sections of the frontline can no longer be scouted, creating dangerous intelligence gaps.

Ground Robots Team Up With Drones

Ukraine has rapidly developed a domestic robotics industry capable of producing unmanned systems for combat, logistics, and demining operations.

The General Staff reported that in July, cargo deliveries to the front line via robotic ground systems rose by over 80 percent compared to June. Ukraine’s new Spider ground robot can carry 100 kilograms, resist electronic jamming, and operate for hours across rugged terrain. Platforms including Volya-E, RATEL H, Termit, Rys PRO, KNLR-E, and Sirko-S1 transport supplies, deliver ammunition, or evacuate wounded personnel under fire. These systems are designed for diverse terrain, from snow and mud to urban rubble, with payloads ranging from 150 to 600 kilograms.

Combat robots such as Lyut, Shablya M2, MOROZ, and D-21-11 (D-11) provide soldiers with remote firepower, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities, often operating from safe distances while engaging enemy positions with machine guns, thermal sights, and modular turrets.

There are also unmanned miners and kamikaze vehicles that are designed to disrupt enemy armor and fortifications. Systems like RATEL S and ARK-1 operate under remote control to lay mines, deliver explosives, or perform reconnaissance, combining mobility, speed, and lethality to maximize impact without exposing soldiers to direct fire.

Ground-based robots are being employed for demining operations. Demining robots such as ZMiy, alongside multifunctional platforms like Sirko-S1 and KNLR-E, enable soldiers to clear minefields safely by using remote operation and advanced sensors.

Equipped with thermal imaging and real-time communication systems, a variety of evacuation robots can locate and transport casualties to medical facilities, even under fire.

Thus, while you read these words, technology is quietly transforming the art of war.