Lancaster Lecture: Innovate, Integrate, Repeat: The Changing Character of Drone Warfare
18 March 2025
At 5.30pm on Tuesday 18 March 2025, Dr Dominika Kunertova will consider the changing character of drone warfare. This lecture will be hosted in-person at Lancaster University This event is co-hosted with the Centre for War and Diplomacy at Lancaster University.
Talk Outline
Most drone warfare has been associated with sophisticated airborne platforms fighting international terrorism. Contemporary drone warfare, however, is less remote and less exquisite. Over the past few years, consumer drones have mutated from a security nuisance into combat assets. The spread of cheap drones across borders and types of actors has altered cost and risk calculations on the battlefield. Most notably, Russia’s ongoing war on Ukraine has led to exponential innovation-adaptation cycles in drone technology and tactics. Inexpensive and replicable drones demonstrate their utility in high-intensity warfare by providing a live-feed of the battlefield and becoming ammunition themselves. Armed forces are rethinking their appreciation of uncrewed systems in terms of both platforms and functions. While drone diversity has highlighted the vertical dimension in land operations, its impact on reinventing airpower and transforming the Air Force remains more difficult to grasp. Will the era of artificial intelligence show the way forward?
Location
This hybrid lecture will be hosted in-person on Lancaster University’s Bailrigg Campus in FYL – Fylde LT 1 A15. Attendance in-person at Lancaster is free and no registration is required. Further details are available on the Centre for War and Diplomacy’s website.
About Dr Dominika Kunertova
Dr Dominika Kunertova a research scientist with over a decade of transatlantic professional experience in academic, think tank, and international organization settings. Her research covers military applications of emerging and disruptive technologies and their impact on international security and transatlantic defence cooperation. She is a non-resident senior fellow at the Transatlantic Security Initiative of the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security, and a NATO partner country director of a project on future drone warfare and technology, funded by the NATO Science for Peace and Security Programme. Kunertova’s research has been published in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Contemporary Security Policy, Defence Studies, European Security, the Journal of Contemporary European Research, Military Review, the Naval War College Review, and more. She has also authored numerous policy reports and briefs on drones, missile technology and arms control, hypersonic weapons, artificial intelligence, and European security in the NATO context. Her public affairs commentary has appeared in outlets including the RUSI Newsbrief, The Conversation, Le Rubicon, and War on the Rocks.
About the Centre for War and Diplomacy
Recent geopolitical developments – from the increasing militarisation of the Asia-Pacific to the military assertiveness of Russia and the resurgence of the nation-state – have meant that the study of warfare and relations between states has risen to renewed prominence.
The Centre for War and Diplomacy (CWD) provides the historical context and strategic analysis that will inform understanding of these current global challenges, as well as those of the future. Embracing a global perspective, it pursues research into the mutually informative fields of war and diplomatic relations between states, and combines cross-chronological insights.
Based in the Department of History at Lancaster University, the CWD brings together colleagues from across the Arts and Social Sciences, including*; History, Digital Humanities, PPR, English Literature and Creative Writing, and LICA, and welcomes non-resident and visiting fellows from across the world.
The CWD also supports the MA in International and Military History at Lancaster, as well as a flourishing community of doctoral students, who benefit from its programme of conferences and seminars. Interested applicants should contact the Directorate for further information.
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