[daemoens]

Russia has the strategic depth to mass manufacture specialty drones in a way that Ukraine cannot. Even though Ukraine used fiber optic drones first, the Russians were the first to produce them in large numbers and it took Ukraine months to catch up. Lancet/Shahed drones are even bigger examples of this.

[amunicio]

Shahed where originally designed and manufactured by Iran. Russians initially bought and licensed them. And I assume are now improving upon the original design.

Russian is top down innovation with a thick layer of corruption. No matter how much you want to claim strategic depth, they are always several steps behind Ukrainians. No matter how many advantages due to size they have.

Sorry you picked the wrong team.

[daemoens]

> Shahed where originally designed and manufactured by Iran.

I'm talking about mass manufacturing, not design. Russia has had capability to hit any Ukrainian factory since Day 1 of the war, that's why they've successfully dispersed and hidden their production so much. Also, I've always been pro-Ukraine.

>they are always several steps behind Ukrainians.

That's not true anymore, both sides have plateaued because all innovations are quickly copied. Anti-recon quadcopters were another Ukrainian innovation that took the Russians roughly 6 months to catch up to. The only advantage they have is size and strategic depth. There isn't much else.

[nikolay]

Shahed evolved into Geran, then Geran 2, and now Geran 3 with jet engine, recently confirmed in use in Ukraine by Kyiv. So, Russia is innovating at a high pace. I'm concerned that America cannot innovate so quickly and cost-efficiently. Everything needs to go through tons of red tape, hourly rates are crazy, and the end product is extremely expensive and hard to maintain and evolve. Anduril to me is not America's answer. America needs on the battlefield innovation and means to share feedback in real-time. We're behind! That's my concern.