Thread by @sambendett

1/ This is an interesting thread from a Ukrainian soldiers going through Western military training in Germany. Key points that stand out: "They do not rely on electronic devices at all, and the fact that we go on missions with Chinese smartphones and tablets was wild for them."

https://twitter.com/WT3ll/status/1679198812483514396

2/ "But after "Kropyva", I don't want to go back to paper docs at all. The same for quadcopters - the concept of DJI Mavics and the use of civilian copters is simply not even in their plans. Of course, they study our war, but they are still surprised that we use it (quadcopters)… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

3/ (For the record, "Kropyva" is a Ukrainian proprietary intelligence mapping software developed for planning, calculations, and orientation that is used by hundreds of units throughout Ukraine). armysos.com.ua/defense-mappin…

4/ More from the Ukrainian soldier: "For a week, we were taught to read maps, take the azimuth, transfer the azimuth from the compass to the map and vice versa. When we told them that we use electronic cards on tablets and phones, they did not take us seriously."

5/ "They have different drone types, but this is purely brigade level. This shows that in addition to the war with the aborigines in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, the Americans have not participated in a serious war for a long time. Their army does not have an analogue of the Chinese… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

6/ The points about Western militaries not having the equivalents of cheap, commercial-type drones for tactical ISR is a major topic of deliberation in the US military today. defenseone.com/threats/2023/0…