Ex-CIA Director Urges US To Learn From Ukraine's Experience

• 6.04.2026, 21:16

The Pentagon needs to implement "an entirely new concept of warfare."

The United States should learn from Ukraine's experience in modern warfare and change the doctrine, structure and training of its armed forces. Former CIA Director David Petraeus said this in an interview with CBS News.

According to him, Ukraine now possesses not individual drones, but a "command and control ecosystem" that combines capabilities for reconnaissance, targeting, strikes and so on. Petraeus emphasized that Kiev is ramping up drone production at a greater pace than Western countries. He noted that a Ukrainian manufacturer informed him of plans to produce three million drones in 2026, while the U.S. produced about 300,000 drones in 2025.

Petraeus said that the U.S. should change its troop structure, including creating separate forces for UAV control. The former CIA director stressed that what is needed for the US is not only to reform its procurement system, but to introduce "a whole new concept of warfare."

"Some Western countries now think that the innovation is to give an armored battalion 50 drones. No. We should disband armored battalions and replace them with a battalion of drones," he said.

Petraeus also added that the U.S. does not yet have systems to "effectively defend" against "drone swarming," a technology that would allow drone operators to control large numbers of drones at once. He said Americans need to "learn a lot more" and reform the military faster.