What happens when military technology outpaces infantry tactics?

Historically, when military technology has outpaces tactics is has resulted in frustrated commanders and fields full of dead men, as we saw occur in World War I.

Machine guns, tanks, and modern artillery made offensive warfare extremely difficult in that conflict. The tactic of rushing the enemy with bayonets became extremely costly, and large concentrations of troops necessary to assault a position were turned into cannon fodder for artillery. A stalemate was created along trench lines with victories measured in feet and yards.

In the modern era, we are seeing this in the war in Ukraine. Once again, European battlefields are pockmarked by trenches, and technology has outpaced the tactics. But this time, the culprits aren’t machine guns and artillery – modern military forces have countermeasures for both – but drones, loitering munitions, thermal optics, and worst of all, information.

WWI battlefields were dominated by firepower; the modern battlefield is dominated by technology.

In both wars, capabilities were highly skewed toward defensive warfare, which leads to wars of attrition and stalemates. The technology of today will require progressive commanders and military forces who can acknowledge that the tactics of yesterday won’t work on the modern battlefield – and part of that is recognizing the new technology.

The information era

Ukraine and Russia are near-peer forces using modern equipment, including modern means to exchange information and to detect the enemy.

The proliferation of cheap drones makes it extremely easy to gather tactical information.

The information from drones, satellites, and troop observations can be spread rapidly to command and control nodes via high-speed internet resources, like Starlink. This creates a detect-to-destruction response that’s almost immediate. The fog of war has been largely lifted, creating a transparent battlefield.

The command and control node no longer has to pore over information from drones and satellites looking at photos and trying to pick out the enemy. AI resources can identify armor, troops, bunkers, and more faster and more efficiently than the smartest intel analyst. Once these systems identify a threat, it can be targeted and eliminated with direct or indirect fire.

In fact, the rise of AI is primed to create a big shift in warfare. It used to be human-in-the-loop, where a human explicitly approved the target. The future is human-on-the-loop, where a human monitors the system that can pull the trigger unless the human overwrites that trigger-pull process.

The change on the ground

U.S. Army reconnaissance Soldiers (from left to right) Sgt. Rafael Lopeza a sniper, Pfc. Jordan Raven of Multipurpose Company, 3rd Squadron, 4th Cavalry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division, sit atop an observation point on Pōhakuloa Training Area (PTA) Hawaii on Nov. 14, 2025. The Soldiers were stationed there for 3 days, demonstrating discipline and endurance while subjected to windy, sand-filled conditions while participating in the Joint Pacific Multinational Readiness Center (JPMRC) Rotation 26-01. (U.S. Army photo by Pfc. Jose Nunez)

To attack an entrenched position, the traditional tactic is to have, at the very least, three times as many assaulters as you do defenders. These assaults usually require the use of armor, infantry, mobile forces, and artillery – what is referred to as “maneuver warfare.”

However, in an effort to avoid detection and minimize casualties, forces are spreading themselves thin making assaults against entrenched positions harder.

Infantrymen are taught a variety of fieldcraft, for example, how to disguise positions, use camouflage, and approach an enemy quietly. We used tape to silence noisy gear and became experts in silent communication and light discipline. Yet, none of those skills matter when an enemy drone equipped with a thermal camera can see you no matter what.

Logistics also suffer from increased detection, making delivering supplies to front-line troops harder and slower.

How do we solve this issue?

Keep in mind I was a corporal, I fought in one war, and was a machine gunner. I’m not a tactical savant and my understanding of how wars are waged outside of infantry firefights is limited. I can’t say for certain what will work, but I can look back at history.

In World War I, German forces employed Storm Troopers. These men were used in small but effective ways to recon and assault an enemy force. These Storm Troopers helped pioneer modern maneuver warfare on a small scale and utilized combined arms to cover movement. That’s all standard these days.

A small unit leader should receive the commander’s intent and then be allowed to plan and adapt to the situation. This requires military forces to be flexible, which often isn’t the case. It also requires competent small unit leaders that can be trusted by command.

Related: Army and Marines embrace kamikaze drones for ground combat

My experience

A U.S. Army K1000 drone assigned to 1st Multi-Domain Task Force, U.S. Army Pacific (USARPAC), surveys the area with the use of Full Motion Video (FMV), and Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR), in support of Salaknib 25 at Fort Magsaysay, Philippines, May 29, 2025. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Brandon Roland)

Countless times in Afghanistan we had a plan to assault the enemy – to pursue and punish – but command at every level denied the assets to make it possible. The increase in communication has resulted in a nanny state of commanders seeking to make tactical decisions from the CoC (Command of Command/Center of Command).

I will never forget the time when we had an ISR drone flying above us which, instead of scouting for the enemy, was being used to correct uniform discrepancies.

This attitude has to change. Troops need to be able to make decisions at their level. To do this successfully, we need to train them effectively to do so. An increase in troop training and independent decision-making, with command support, could be part of the solution.

An era of combined information

Additionally, the Storm Troopers succeeded because they implemented the same technology that outpaced infantry tactics: combined arms, artillery, machine guns, and planes. The head shed needs to find effective ways to mix drones, AI targeting, and advanced communications to benefit our troops on the offensive and create an era of combined information that allows for maneuver warfare.

Can drones be used to counter the enemy’s drones? Can AI detect drones quicker than an infantryman and provide advanced warning? What about predictive analysis and autonomous risk assessment? How can that be leveraged with an infantryman? If an AI resource is constantly fed information, that AI could be used to support the autonomy and decentralized command structure of independent forces.

Can combined information be used to coordinate complicated attacks with small groups of infantry and armor dispersed from each other in an effective way? How can we integrate this technology that makes defensive warfare so effective in an offensive manner? This same technology and tactics can be used for logistics to keep the fighting men supplied.

Combined arms warfare and tactics, mixed with new technology, created maneuver warfare and eliminated the stalemates of the early 20th century. What will eliminate the tactical stalemates of this century? Only time will tell. There is only one absolute truth: When military technology outpaces infantry tactics, you pay for it in blood.

Feature Image: U.S. Army Soldiers with Charlie Company, 2nd Battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Mobile Brigade, 25th Infantry Division pull security during the Joint Pacific Multinational Readiness Center (JPMRC) rotation 26-01, Nov. 7, 2025, at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Johanna Pullum)

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