The war between Russia and Ukraine has highlighted the important role played by drones In today’s battlefields. However, the problem faced by military forces around the world is that aggressive weapons tend to be much cheaper than the means needed to destroy them, as the Bloomberg agency notes.

The cost of drones can range from a few hundred to several thousand dollars, and the cost is significantly reduced as innovation is boosted and mass production increases. The cost of producing drones corresponds to a small part of the costs for air defense missiles, which cost tens of millions in the highest category for a single shot.

Efforts to resolve this puzzle was presented this week at the DSEI Defense Report in London, where the rooms were full of lasers, missiles, interference devices and drones designed to neutralize small, unmanned threats. The common feature of all of this was the attempt to reduce the “cost by neutralization”.

Drones have played a leading role in the Russian invasion of Ukraine. As the collision exhausts the most conventional war reserves, such as artillery, and both sides have been largely based on drones for surveillance, defense and attack missions.

“In Ukraine, this is really a drone war,” said Jan-Hendrik Boelens, chief executive of Alpine Eagle Gmbh, who specializes in drones. “And our interception system is essentially a small drone, so it also has the price of a small drone.”

Electronic warfare, including interference with confusion in drones control systems, is another defensive method. Dozens of companies in DSEI have promoted this technology, which has the advantage of having many drones at the same time.

“In essence, the intercept system destroys the electronic systems of the entire flock, and drones are falling to the ground,” explains Mike Sewart, technology director of the British subsidiary of Thales SA. “This is not a ‘mark and shot’ model, where you literally target drones one by one.”

Meanwhile, US companies such as Droneshield and Dedrone have presented portable systems that can target like rifles. Lasers, which destroy the drones in the air, were presented at the exhibition, from multiple versions of the well -known Israeli Rafael Iron Beam to smaller competitors, such as Electro Optic Systems and IPG Photonics. And while both lasers and electronic warfare systems are initially expensive and complex in construction, they are then cheap in operation.

The increase in demand for equipment against drones has attracted investment. Tytan Technologies, a newly established Munich -based company that manufactures UAV drones, recently raised $ 19 million from European investors, while Ukraine and German armed forces have tested its intercept systems.

While the focus of modern war conflicts is in Ukraine and Russia, other countries afraid of military invasions are also looking for ways to enhance their potential in the drones. After all, just last week, Russian drones were rejected Above the airspace of Poland.

According to Becca Wasser, of the Bloomberg Economics department, NATO faces a severe lack of defense systems against drones. Taiwan, worried about a possible invasion from China, has stated that her current stock, numbering a few thousand drones, is too small for her needs.

Last year, the Pentagon announced a $ 1 billion initiative to investigate the war with drones around Taiwan, drawing on lessons from Ukraine, where sea drones have largely eliminated Russia’s fleet in the Black Sea. Germany has recently announced the large -scale drones market, although at a lower level than other European countries.

Companies from around the world work to provide drones systems, while big players seek to develop their own products, such as Lockheed Martin’s Indago 4 and the BAE Systems Malloy T-50s.

The increasing number of drones threats means that the diversity of defense systems must be expanded at a faster rate, said Fabian Hinz, an analyst at the International Institute of Strategic Studies. “There is a great deal of emphasis on the financial accessibility of the UAV solutions, but one more important factor may be availability and expanding production,” Hinz said. “In other words: Even if there was money, we couldn’t get enough drones.”