Ukraine’s “Dragon Drones” Are a Devastating Psychological Weapon

Let’s pause and appreciate the fact that the Ukrainian group who shared one of the dragon drone videos calls itself the “Khorne Group.” Khorne is the fictional blood god from the UK-based Games Workshop tabletop board game Warhammer 40,000. Nerds rule. They are also using the Khorne symbol. Khorne Group is part of the 116th Mechanized Brigade’s Surveillance and Target Acquisition Battery — image from the Ukraine Defense Ministry.

I got a call yesterday from an old battle buddy I served with in the 101st Airborne.

Most of us are living the comfy life of a veteran in the United States, albeit, with some back and knee pain, and a little PTSD. A few of my comrades are still serving on active duty.

“Hey Wes, have you seen those dragon drones Ukraine has been using against the orcs?”

I had.

Like many veterans of the Global War on Terror, we have been watching Ukraine’s defense with a dual sense of unbridled support and FOMO — fear of missing out and longing to be there alongside our Ukrainian comrades.

Out of the members of my squad, I’m the only one who left the Army to serve in the Air Force and pursue a formal education in global security, so my analysis can go deeper than the average infantryman.

But deep down, there’s still the tendency to look at things from the grunt view at ground level.

Ukraine’s fire-breathing drones are the latest “infantryman’s nightmare” made manifest by the ingenuity of Ukrainian soldiers — what I lovingly call the ‘MacGyver Army.’

As veterans, we’ve earned the right to “armchair quarterback” the Ukraine war and put ourselves in the boots of the Ukrainian…