NATO is bracing for a new era of warfare in which thousands of artificial intelligence-controlled drones operate as a single deadly unit, with a senior alliance general warning the technology could rival nuclear weapons in destructive power and reshape global military deterrence within five years.
Major-General Constantin-Adrian Ciolponea, who represents NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Transformation in Europe, told The Times that the defence bloc must urgently adapt to what he described as “swarm-type attacks” on a massive scale. “The next stage of evolution for drones will be swarm-type attacks when you don’t have one or two, ten or twenty — you have thousands of drones commanded from a single point, whether that is a human or just a ‘mother’ drone,” he said.
Ciolponea, a special forces veteran who served in Romania’s army internationally, described the convergence of AI and drone technology as simultaneously “scary and reassuring.” The destructive potential of coordinated swarms is so significant, he argues, that it could fundamentally alter the balance of conventional and nuclear deterrence. “Integrated robotised and autonomous systems across land, air and sea are much harder to defend against. It challenges prevailing military thinking by combining mass and precision. Deterrence against aggressive states can become stronger because the whole conventional calculus became a zero-sum game,” he said. He added a stark warning for smaller nations: “Nations without this type of technology will be forced to join a security organisation or to accept the conditions of an aggressor.”
The concern is not theoretical. Earlier this month, the New Scientist reported that fully autonomous drones with no human oversight killed Russian soldiers in combat for the first time. Drone-maker Alexander Kokhanovskyy said the incident, which took place two years ago, involved quadcopters programmed to fly up to three miles in ten minutes before entering what he called “Terminator Mode” — an onboard AI system that independently searches for and engages targets. “We just launch it and we know everything will be dead — everything that will be found there in this particular area will be dead,” Kokhanovskyy told the magazine. “There is no connection to the drone at all, you cannot see the video, nothing. Everything it sees will be killed.” Human-piloted drones surveying the aftermath found the autonomous machine had killed “a couple of soldiers, one truck.”
The warning comes as Ukraine’s intensified drone campaign against Russian energy and logistics infrastructure is already stretching Moscow’s war effort to breaking point. Ukrainian strikes have hit targets as far as Siberia, more than 1,200 miles from the front line, contributing to a deepening fuel crisis across Russia. Regions including Omsk, Novosibirsk and Voronezh have begun restricting fuel sales, with Omsk Governor Vitaly Khotsenko limiting petrol purchases to 40 litres per car and banning fuel sales for refuelling cans entirely. Russia’s second-largest oil producer, Lukoil, has also begun limiting fuel sales in the Voronezh region.
Meanwhile, fighting on the ground continues to grind on into the war’s fifth year. Six people were wounded overnight in Russian air strikes on Ukraine, with casualties reported in Zaporizhzhia, Sumy and Kharkiv. Russian strategic bombers carried out a 16-hour mission over the Barents and Norwegian seas with foreign fighter jet escorts, a provocation along the borders of NATO members Norway and Finland. Kyiv is pressing Western allies for a peace settlement while simultaneously seeking fast-track admission to the European Union.
