The now three-year conflict between Russian and Ukraine has brought drone warfare out of the conceptual stage and into the modern reality of how future wars will be fought, The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.

Last week, Ukraine launched its largest drone assault to date when it sent 343 drones into Russia with 91 attacking the Moscow region and another 126 over the western region of Kursk. The robot-led strike killed at least three people at a Russian meat warehouse and injured 17 others, shutting down all four major Moscow-based airports temporarily.

Drone technology has become so ubiquitous in the conflict that command operations now resemble the basement of a tech startup rather than a traditional front-line bunker. Scores of monitors with aerial and ground-based drones now lay waiting to be unpacked and launched, ready to do battle with Russia’s own robot army.

Lt. Andriy Kopach, who led a Ukrainian drone offensive in December, said the planning and execution of such missions are not without intense human contribution. Skilled drone operators, mission commanders, and contingency plans are constantly evolving, but the success of robot-led missions has had international companies and governments paying attention. Recently several decision makers have reached out to him to absorb what details they can about his tactics and equipment. It was then that he realized the significance of how the war is changing the world. "Then I was thinking, yes, it was really massive, really special," he said adding, "It was the first step of the new war."

The snowy, rugged terrain has forced the drone units to adapt to what is capable and which type of tech to send into the field. Land drones, or UGVs, can look like a lunar rover, or like a robot-dog and each come with their own advantages and disadvantages.  

Tamiris Pereira dos Santos, a land platforms analyst at the defense-intelligence company Janes, said the use of UGVs in Ukraine has shown their current limitations but also gives developers a real-world scenario to observe and improve drone technology for the next conflict. "What the deployment of UGVs in Ukraine has done is to catalyze testing and experimentation of these platforms for other armed forces and larger manufacturers," he said.

According to data from the National Ground Intelligence Center, 40% of all combat-damaged vehicles in the Russia-Ukraine war were the result of kinetic drone strikes. This monumental shift in strategy has caused military leaders in the U.S. to call for the Pentagon to rapidly adapt to the changing environment.

"The dawn of tactical drone warfare is here," writes Lt. Col/ Michael Kim in his paper, "Full Speed Ahead: Integrating Kinetic Drones into the Combined-Arms Battalion."

"The Russo-Ukrainian War clearly displays the advent of [kinetic drone] warfare, and it behooves the U.S. Army to make critical changes today. The U.S. Army must lead this effort and integrate tactical [kinetic drones] at scale before the next major conflict," he said.

• Russia, US Discuss 'Next Steps' on Ukraine
• 3 Killed in Ukrainian Drone Attack on Moscow