Kate McKenna

International Legion of Defence Intelligence of Ukraine.

Oct 5, 2025

One of the commanders from the awesome 3rd Army Corps was in Kyiv recently, and we met for coffee. “Kate,” he said, “You would not believe what it is like now [on the front]. The russians assault using motorbikes, armoured [vehicles] are no good anymore. It is like being in a Mad Max movie. It’s crazy.”

In Ukraine, motorbikes with rifle-toting riders outmaneuver GDLS armored beasts – drones turn ‘exquisite tech’ into scrap. West: Your Replicator delays are the real vulnerability. Those exquisite 30-year, lifetime-guaranteed armored vehicles that cost millions, versus a Mad Max cross-country bike with the pillion firing an assault rifle, while the bike hoons across the body-strewn remnants of a once-beautiful landscape. Welcome to War 2025.

The West is facing an innovation crisis. Just like the armoured, bureaucracy is pitted against battlefield reality, or in this scenario, a motorbike with a guy hanging off the back, firing wildly.

That Battlefield Reality:

⚠️NATO exercises ignore Ukraine’s drone saturation and EW, assuming air superiority that’s absent in real conflicts – leading to unpreparedness for attritional warfare.
⚠️ The US DoD’s Replicator initiative had fielded only hundreds of drones by summer 2025, compared to thousands targeted, due to acquisition delays.
⚠️In a 2025 US-China conflict, air superiority is contested: CRINK missiles could crater US bases for 12-30 days, with simulations predicting 200-400 aircraft losses on the ground.
⚠️Western air edges (20,376 NATO aircraft vs. CRINK ~8,000) undermined by hypersonics and A2/AD; failure risks “operational paralysis.”

🚀 Ukraine’s Speed: The Blueprint You’re Ignoring

We’re not just surviving – we’re revolutionising warfare: direct soldier-to-startup links, no fat cats. Adapt or perish.

What does that look like?

• Drone production surged 900% to 200,000/month by mid-2025, enabling 2.5 million annually – outpacing Lockheed’s 2-year Vectis “rapid” prototype flight 🤦‍♀️ 😂
• Innovation cycles as short as six weeks; drones achieve battlefield air interdiction, interdicting logistics with fibre-optics and AI adaptations.
• Ukrainian drones deny superiority like CRINK will do – swarms and EW provide lessons for Western base hardening.
• Russian advances slowed 45% by Ukrainian drones; tech sharing includes anti-drone training for NATO.

“If NATO members wish to close this gap, they must lean heavily on the technical and strategic lessons learned by the Ukrainian military…” Atlantic Council.

“The speed of innovation is so quick: It’s a six-week cycle and then it’s obsolete.” – European diplomat. Correct – Lockheed 2 years before you’re ready to fly? Seriously?

🛡️ Our Challenges: Resource Starvation Amid Innovation

Innovation isn’t magic – resources fuel it. As gatekeepers to the world’s deadliest lab, we demand fair trade: Supplies for secrets. No middlemen, no free lunch.

This isn’t just Ukraine – it’s the future vs China. It’s our futures vs CRINK.

Comment from :

Jan Saam

Founder & CTO at OSPIN GmbH

Very interesting analysis Kate McKenna. It is actually embarrassing how few people in the West have yet realized that if we want drone defense we have a lot to learn from the Ukranian Forces. Yes, the situation in an active war zone is different from deterring hybrid attacs on cities in Poland or Germany. But the dynamics of innovation and deployment in Ukraine is astounding from a Nato perspective. It is vital not only for Ukraine but also the rest of Europe that we support them with any material they need. Ukraine is the only country with practical experience how to fight Russia and that experience should be worth something for us.

John Patterson

Senior Consultant at QACV Consulting

Ukraine 🇺🇦 will never surrender ! Victory to Ukraine 🇺🇦 !

Christopher Stear

A brilliant analysis. The reality of Ukraine is a polar opposite to what its invaders want to convey. I recently interviewed a returnee who had made multiple visits to and near the front line and his accounts paint a very different picture to what mainstream media continues to broadcast.

Christopher J. Wajnikonis

Europe has a modern Air Force & a fresh Army.

Europe lacks leadership, understanding of ruZZia, of the depth of the immediate & direct danger this war poses to Europe, numbers & confidence.

These shortcomings aren’t surprising; ditto was true in the UK in 1938/39, right up until the start of WW2. Everyone understood suddenly in 1939/40!

Ukraine has the biggest & best-trained army in Europe, but it’s also the worst-equipped.

Ukraine excels in technology & tactics.

Ukraine has great leadership, confidence & a deep understanding of what Europe lacks.

Europe & Ukraine complement each other.

Should we repeat the mistakes of 1938 & have full-scale WW, like our ancestors experienced in the XX Century? WW2 was avoidable, as is a full-scale WW3. We can help Ukraine defeat Putin & avoid the next WW.

But WE MUST:

• Arm Ukraine to the teeth.
• Make the current LAUGHABLE ‘sanctions’ 100% effective, including secondary sanctions on ruZZian 3rd party trade.
• Rescind M0R0NlC restrictions on the use of our weapons;
• Enforce 100% Defensive NFZ above Ukraine & its perimeter,
• Start punishing ruZZia severely for GPS jamming, sabotage of our cables & pipelines;
• Stop all ruZZian violations of NATO Airspace.

All NATO countries (the U.S. included) & Taiwan should follow the example of countries like Poland and Denmark, which are using the Ukrainian know-how to modernize their methods of warfare.

Learning must be included.

Ukraine is the largest country in Europe, with the biggest and most experienced army, but it is the least well-equipped. Correcting this problem is currently the top priority for strengthening European security. Europe’s geography underscores Ukraine’s strategic importance to its safety.

Ukraine & Europe complement each other well militarily & Ukraine should remain an effective component of future European protection.

Many in the West haven’t yet realized these facts & don’t yet appreciate Ukraine’s role in the military downgrading of the H0RDΣS currently threatening Europe. The ruZZians constantly boast on their TV about nuking London, Berlin, Paris & annexing Alaska.

The Freedom of Ukraine is the KEY EXISTENTIAL MATTER for the FREEDOM IN EUROPE ! IT MUST BE SECURED NOW, & Putin’s ‘multipolar world dream’ will fall like a house of cards, which it is! The ruZZian threat will be kept at bay EVERYWHERE in Central Europe, in the Middle East, in Africa & in the Arctic! Xi Jinping would learn not to mess with us!

Andrew Biddle

Zoom out and you will see the entire Russian war effort is supplied by a number of railways and ports that could be counted on one’s fingers.

If we so chose, the states could delete the Russian economy in 24 hours with conventional weapons.

Developing cUAS is important, obviously.

But let’s not for one second think that the United States would not be able to delete the Russian war machine the same way we did the Iraqis—and could do so all from the comforts of Missouri.

Daniel Kearns

Andrew Biddle : I asked grok to prepare a strike package including specific targets for a 100 Tomahawk strike (Ohio class sub), and analyze BDA. One strike would eliminate Russia’s ability to wage war in Ukraine. A second strike would eliminate their ability to wage war anywhere.

sUAS are certainly a concern on the modern battlefield but neither Russia nor Ukraine are remotely close to a near peer of the US military.

Damir Wallener

That’s a gloves-off war between approximate peers. We’ve never seen what a gloves-off US military can actually do. Every engagement since Vietnam has been limited in scope.

If Europe was serious, it would help Ukraine take out the drone factories.

Mike Carpenter

NATO has no chance against Moscow. Europe should be on its knees thanking Putin for attacking Ukraine, not NATO. NATO was meeting for three days of consultations, and during that time it is possible to destroy almost all NATO bases in Europe, take control of logistics under drone control, and prevent the alliance from bringing troops to the borders.
A possible scenario: the Muscovites launch a drone strike from the sea from tankers. This paralyzes logistics, causing panic. While NATO is meeting for consultations, drinking coffee, and deciding whether it is a war or not, someone jokes, NATO strategic facilities are being attacked by heavy drones.
Panic among the population causes widespread chaos – people are trying to leave the countries in Eastern Europe deep into the continent. The sky is closed, passenger planes are not flying.. A complete collapse occurs on the roads, which makes it impossible to deliver troops to the East.
I think this is enough to assess the situation.

Viktor Romanenkov

This is a very accurate observation of the conditions Ukrainian forces are forced to operate under – a truly unique environment shaped by the absence of air superiority on both sides.

However, if any of these conditions change – for instance, if one side (ideally Ukraine) were to gain sustained air superiority – we would likely see a completely different operational picture and a reassessment of the role of small drones. It’s difficult to predict the relevance of any particular system in the next conflict without knowing whether current conditions will be replicated.

A good historical analogy is the shift from the dominance of long-range artillery in WWI to maneuver warfare and airpower in WWII. The same may happen again – once the environment changes, so does the value of technology and tactics.