A computer game-style drone attack system has gone “viral” among Ukrainian military units and is being extended to reconnaissance, artillery and logistics operations, the nation’s first deputy prime minister, Mykhailo Fedorov, has told the Guardian. Drone teams competing for points under the “Army of Drones Bonus System” killed or wounded 18,000 Russian soldiers in September, with 400 drone units now taking part in the competition, up from 95 in August, Ukrainian officials said. The system, which launched more than a year ago, rewards soldiers who achieve strikes with points that can be exchanged to buy more weapons in an “Amazon-for-war” online store called Brave1 filled with more than 100 different drones, autonomous vehicles and other drone war material. It has a leaderboard topped by teams with names such as Achilles and Phoenix.
Can anyone imagine the screams of outrage from every columnist in the Guardian if this system existed in any war involving UK or US forces? Or the Israeli Defence Force?
Yet strangely, there's not a hint of concern on moral grounds about this, in the article.
Oh, my mistake, there is one after all - not on morality issues though, purely on future success grounds.
But the extension of the points-based system comes amid warnings that increasing reliance on drone warfare is not something Nato countries should follow because Russian defences against such unmanned aerial attacks have become formidable.
Why? Coulsd it be that left wingers are all massive hypocrites who hate the West and everything it does. but will tolerate anything from favoured groups without a peep? Surely not?
