Ukraine Conflict
Uncrewed, Ubiquitous, Unprecedented Technology Applied to Modern War
Jason Eckberg
Colonel, USAF
Chief of the Penetrating, Persistent, Multi-role Remotely Crewed Air Vehicles Operations Division
Operations Directorate, HQ, USAF
Sponsored by a PSW Science Member who wishes to remain anonymous
About the Lecture
Ukraine’s defense against Russia in the Ukraine-Russia war provides clear examples for evaluating the effectiveness of old and new technology in modern conflict. In almost every category of capability, Ukraine was outclassed in capacity and resources, and its rapid fall in Winter of 2022 seemed inevitable. However, this did not happen. To the contrary, Ukraine in many ways has prevailed against the Russian invasion.
Approaching the third year of the conflict, the combatants have increasingly developed and deployed technological innovations, prevalently in the form of unmanned systems. Omnipresent employment of “drones” is now a routine feature of the battlefield, integral to the operational designs the combatants have chosen to implement their strategies. Ukraine is engaged in an active defense operational construct, attempting to maximize attrition on opposing forces. Russia is employing a continuous pressure campaign across all domains. Both combatants are employing unmanned systems to amplify and enable success in those chosen operational strategies.
The trends seen in this conflict, and in conflicts elsewhere, are harbingers of the developments in technology that will transform conflicts in all other theaters.
Note that the speaker’s observations and conclusions are his own and are not necessarily supported as an official position of the USAF, DoD, or USG.
– Website: https://www.understandingwar.org/ Institute for the Study of War, Ukraine Conflict Daily Summaries.
– https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/ukraine-and-problem-restoring-maneuver-contemporary-war; Aug 12, 2024.
– IEEE publication: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10705385
– “Swarms over the Strait” CNAS Paper; Pettyjohn, Dennis, Campbell. June 2024.
– Book: “Winning the Next War” Stephen P Rosen
About the Speaker
Jason Eckberg is a Colonel in the United State Air Force, and is the Division Chief of the Persistent, Penetrating, Multi-Role (P2RM) Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) Division of the Operations Directorate at USAF Headquarters. The Division oversees policy and operations for all RPA operations, training, and manpower for the USAF, such as the MQ-9 REAPER, RQ-4 GLOBAL HAWK, and the RQ-170. Jason recently also served with the Security Assistance Group-Ukraine as the Officer in Charge of the Advisory contingent in Kyiv.
In addition to these deployments, Jason is a Master Navigator with over 2,000 flying hours in over 20 unique aircraft.
Jason received his commission from the Reserve Officer Training Corps detachment at Carnegie Mellon University. He served as a RC-135 electronic warfare officer, instructor/evaluator electronic warfare officer and combat crew commander. And has had commanded at Squadron, Group, and Vice Wing levels.
Jason earned a BS in Chemistry at Carnegie Mellon University, an MS in Administration at Central Michigan University, an MS in Cyber Warfare at the Air Force Institute of Technology, and he was a Military Fellow in Security Studies at MIT. In addition, he is a graduate of the Squadron Officer School, Maxwell Air Force Base, and the Air Force Test Pilot School, Experimental Flight Test Navigator, and Air Command and Staff College, Maxwell Air Force Base.