Societal Risks and Implications of Drone Warfare
The “Drone Safari” in Kherson as a Case Study
Keywords:
Drone Warfare, Cognitive Warfare, Resilience, Crowdsourcing, Kherson, Case Study
Abstract
Modern drone warfare is not merely a military or technological issue but also entails significant societal risks. This study examines these risks through the interactions among cognitive warfare, social resilience, and crowdsourcing. Given the complex and multidimensional nature of contemporary conflicts, the isolated analyses of individual phenomena fails to provide a comprehensive understanding of societal risks and adaptive response mechanisms. Based on an empirical case study, the analysis examines how these interactions shape the conditions of societal stability and identifies emerging patterns of adaptation and vulnerability within the context of drone warfare. The study emphasizes the importance of emergent phenomena and dynamic interactions, arguing that societal risks associated with drone warfare are systemic in nature and require an integrated analytical framework, as well as adaptive and learning-oriented forms of civil–state cooperation.
References
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Pace, Rodrigo Metropolo, Coelho, Emilio Reis 2022. Information as a weapon of mass disruption: from information disorder to Cognitive Warfare. Revista Da Escola de Guerra Naval 28 (3), 707–722. https://doi.org/10.21544/2359-3075.v28n3.g
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Putter, Dries 2024. Navigating the interplay of cognitive warfare and counterintelligence in African security strategies: insights and case studies. Journal of Policing, Intelligence and Counter Terrorism 20 (2), 173–192 https://doi.org/10.1080/18335330.2024.2440873
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Spansvoll, Runar 2024. The Weaponisation of Social Media, Crowdfunding and Drones: A People’s War in the Digital Age. The RUSI Journal 169 (1–2), 46–60. https://doi.org/10.1080/03071847.2024.2350478
Szöllõsi Annamária 2025a. A reziliencia jelentése és fogalmi fejlõdése: Multi- és interdiszciplináris perspektíva. Hadtudományi Szemle 18 (1), 77–86. https://doi.org/10.32563/hsz.2025.1.6
Szöllõsi Annamária 2025b. A reziliencia a biztonság kontextusában. Hadtudományi Szemle 18 (2), 161-177. https://doi.org/10.32563/hsz.2025.2.10
Volkov, Andrei 2020. Cognitive Wars: Features of the Geopolitical Conflict In 21st Century. In I. Elkina, & S. Ivanova (eds.): Cognitive - Social, and Behavioural Sciences (1), 281-288. https://doi.org/10.15405/epes.20121.32
Walker, Brian, Holling, Crawford Stanley, Carpenter, Stephen R., Kinzig, Ann 2004. Resilience, adaptability and transformability in social–ecological systems. Ecology and Society 9 (2), 1-9. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-00650-090205
Goncharuk, Vitaliy 2024. Survival of the Smartest? Defense AI in Ukraine. In Borchert, Heiko, Schütz, Torben, Verbovszky, Joseph (eds.): The Very Long Game. Contributions to Security and Defence Studies. 375-395. [Ebook] Springer: Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-58649-1_17
Murray, Williamson, Mansoor, Peter R. 2012. Hybrid warfare: fighting complex opponents from the ancient world to the present. New York: Cambridge University Press
Rid, Thomas 2020. Active Measures: The Secret History of Disinformation and Political Warfare. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
Robinson, Stephen. 2021. The Blind Strategist: John Boyd and the American Art of War. Auckland: Exisle Publishing.
Yang Hui, Jennifer 2015. Crowdsourcing for national security. Singapore: S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies Policy Report. https://www.files.ethz.ch/isn/189326/PR150317_Crowdsourcing-for-National-Security.pdf
Andersson, Jan Joel, Simon, Sascha 2024. Minding the drone gap: Drone warfare and the EU. European Union Institute for Security Studies 1-4. https://www.iss.europa.eu/publications/briefs/minding-drone-gap-drone-warfare-and-eu (Letöltés ideje: 2025. 12. 28.)
Asmolov, Gregory 2022. The transformation of participatory warfare: The role of narratives in connective mobilization in the Russia–Ukraine war. Digi War (3), 25–37. https://doi.org/10.1057/s42984-022-00054-5
Clapp, Sebastian 2025. Eastern Flank Watch and European Drone Wall. European Parliament Think Tank 1-2. https://epthinktank.eu/2025/10/23/eastern-flank-watch-and-european-drone-wall/ (Letöltés ideje: 2025. 12. 15.)
Cox, Nathaniel L. 2025. Psychological implications of drone warfare on the modern warfighter. Military Psychology 1–7. https://doi.org/10.1080/08995605.2025.2594335
Deveraux, Brennan 2022. Loitering munitions in Ukraine and beyond. War on the Rocks. https://warontherocks.com/2022/04/loitering-munitions-in-ukraine-and-beyond/ (Letöltés ideje: 2025. 12. 15.)
Dobák Imre, Bérczi Péter 2025. Crowdsourcing–lehetõségek és korlátok nemzetbiztonsági szemmel. Belügyi Szemle 73 (3), 593-608. https://doi.org/10.38146/BSZ-AJIA.2025.v73.i3.pp593-608
Eachus, Peter 2014. Community resilience: Is it greater than the sum of the parts of individual resilience?Procedia Economics and Finance (18), 345–351. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2212-5671(14)00949-6
Feldstein, Steven 2022. Disentangling the digital battlefield: How the internet has changed war. War on the Rocks. https://warontherocks.com/2022/12/disentangling-the-digital-battlefield-how-the-internet-has-changed-war (Letöltés ideje: 2025. 12. 15.)
Fried, Tsiporah 2025. The impact of drones on the battlefield: Lessons of the Russia-Ukraine War from a French perspective. Hudson Institute, 1-12. https://www.hudson.org/missile-defense/impact-drones-battlefield-lessons-russian-ukraine-war-french-perspective-tsiporah-fried (Letöltés ideje: 2025. 12. 15.)
Hijazi, Alaa, Ferguson, Christopher J., Ferraro, F. Richard, Hall, Harold, Hovee, Mark, Wilcox Sherrie 2017. Psychological dimensions of drone warfare. Current Psychology 38 (5), 1285–1296. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-017-9684-7
Holling, Crawford Stanley 1973. Resilience and Stability of Ecological Systems. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics (4), 1-23. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.es.04.110173.000245
Jia, Chenyan, Yuson Lee, Angela, Moore, Ryan C., Halsey-Steve Decatur, Cid, Liu, Sunny Xun, Hancock. Jeffrey T., 2024. Collaboration, Crowdsourcing, and Misinformation. PNAS Nexus 3 (10), 1-4. https://doi.org/10.1093/pnasnexus/pgad434
Kallenborn, Zachary 2022. Seven (initial) drone warfare lessons from Ukraine. Modern War Institute. https://mwi.westpoint.edu/seven-initial-drone-warfare-lessons-from-ukraine/ (Letöltés ideje: 2025. 12. 15.)
Kharazian, Zarine, Jalbert, Madeline, Dash, Saloni, Memon, Shahan Ali, Starbird, Kate, Spiro, Emma S. West Jevin D. 2024. Our field was built on decades-old bodies of research across a range of disciplines. It wasn’t invented by a ‘class of misinformation experts’ in 2016. Center for an Informed Public, University of Washington. https://www.cip.uw.edu/2024/01/24/misinformation-field-research (Letöltés ideje: 2025. 12. 28.)
Kimhi, Saul 2016. Levels of resilience: Associations among individual, community, and national resilience. Journal of Health Psychology 21 (2), 164–170. https://doi.org/10.1177/1359105314524009
Kirichenko, David 2025. Ever-faster weapon cycles: Innovation and economics in the war in Ukraine. The Strategist. https://www.aspistrategist.org.au/ever-faster-weapon-cycles-innovation-and-economics-in-the-war-in-ukraine/?utm_
Kirichenko, David, Kuzmin, Mykola 2025. European defence autonomy: Identifying key companies and projects to replace US capabilities. The Henry Jackson Society, 1-40. https://henryjacksonsociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/HJS-European-Defence-Autonomy-Report-web.pdf?utm_
Maksymenko, Serhii Dmytrovich, Derkach, Lidiya Mykolayevna. 2023. Understanding modern cognitive war in the global dimension, its genesis in the ukrainian context. Obrana A Strategie (Defence and Strategy) 23 (1), 126–148. https://doi.org/10.3849/1802-7199.23.2023.01.126-148
Meghraoui, Loukmane, Belkhamza, Zakariya 2025. Cognitive Warfare and Cybersecurity: Strategic Implications for Global Security. Proceedings of the International Conference on Information Warfare and Security 20 (1), 257-264. https://doi.org/10.34190/iccws.20.1.3277
Norris, Fran H., Stevens, Susan P., Pfefferbaum, Betty, Wyche, Karen F., Pfefferbaum, Rose L. 2008. Community Resilience as a Metaphor, Theory, Set of Capacities, and Strategy for Disaster Readiness. American journal of community psychology 41 (1-2), 127-150. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10464-007-9156-6
Pace, Rodrigo Metropolo, Coelho, Emilio Reis 2022. Information as a weapon of mass disruption: from information disorder to Cognitive Warfare. Revista Da Escola de Guerra Naval 28 (3), 707–722. https://doi.org/10.21544/2359-3075.v28n3.g
Pastor, Alvaro 2025. Cognitive warfare: The Weaponisation of the Science of Brain and Behaviour. OSF Preprints, 1-41. https://doi.org/10.31219/osf.io/ynfzr_v2 (Letöltés ideje: 2025. 12. 28.
Patel, Sonny S., Rogers, M. Brooke, Amlôt, Richard, Rubin, G. James 2017. What do we mean by “community resilience”? A systematic literature review of how it is defined in the literature. PLOS Currents (9), 1-31. https://doi.org/10.1371/currents.dis.db775aff25efc5ac4f0660ad9c9f7db2
Plaza, Frida Muñoz, Sotelo Monge, Marco Antonio, Ordi, Hector Gonzalez 2023. Towards the Definition of Cognitive Warfare and Related Countermeasures: A Systematic Review In: ARES ‘23: Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on Availability, Reliability and Security 40, 1-7. https://doi.org/10.1145/3600160.3605080
Pripoae-ªerbãnescu, Ciprian. 2023. Cognitive Warfare – Beyond Dominance, Manoeuvres and Information – The Battle for the Imagined Future. Romanian Military Thinking (4), 258-279. https://doi.org/10.55535/RMT.2023.4.16
Putter, Dries 2024. Navigating the interplay of cognitive warfare and counterintelligence in African security strategies: insights and case studies. Journal of Policing, Intelligence and Counter Terrorism 20 (2), 173–192 https://doi.org/10.1080/18335330.2024.2440873
Rickli, Jean-Marc, Mantellassi, Federico 2024. The war in Ukraine: Reality check for emerging technologies and the future of warfare. Geneva Paper 34 (24), 1-51. https://www.gcsp.ch/publications/war-ukraine-reality-check-emerging-technologies-and-future-warfare
Spansvoll, Runar 2024. The Weaponisation of Social Media, Crowdfunding and Drones: A People’s War in the Digital Age. The RUSI Journal 169 (1–2), 46–60. https://doi.org/10.1080/03071847.2024.2350478
Szöllõsi Annamária 2025a. A reziliencia jelentése és fogalmi fejlõdése: Multi- és interdiszciplináris perspektíva. Hadtudományi Szemle 18 (1), 77–86. https://doi.org/10.32563/hsz.2025.1.6
Szöllõsi Annamária 2025b. A reziliencia a biztonság kontextusában. Hadtudományi Szemle 18 (2), 161-177. https://doi.org/10.32563/hsz.2025.2.10
Volkov, Andrei 2020. Cognitive Wars: Features of the Geopolitical Conflict In 21st Century. In I. Elkina, & S. Ivanova (eds.): Cognitive - Social, and Behavioural Sciences (1), 281-288. https://doi.org/10.15405/epes.20121.32
Walker, Brian, Holling, Crawford Stanley, Carpenter, Stephen R., Kinzig, Ann 2004. Resilience, adaptability and transformability in social–ecological systems. Ecology and Society 9 (2), 1-9. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-00650-090205
Published
2026-07-05
Section
Security policy
