In Ukraine, the decision cycle in the heat of combat has reduced to just five minutes at the tactical level and 30 minutes at the operational level, according to one observer of the Russia-Ukraine war familiar with the matter.
“That’s [a] pretty common standard in Ukraine right now,” the individual suggested, “not only for Ukrainian forces but also for Russian forces.”
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There are a number of factors that come together to limit the decision-making timeframe, such as the saturation of various sensors and the speed at which artificial intelligence (AI) distributes data from across a network for command and control (C2), even filtering the actionable insight needed.
Eventually, “everything will be in milliseconds,” they asserted.
Rapid adaptation
In the last three years, Ukraine’s Armed Forces have operated on an asymmetric model being forced to rapidly adapt and innovate in response to an invading force with a considerable quantitative advantage.
For that reason, Ukraine’s forces have adapted with a range of new technologies, such as AI and drones, which have sped up the Ukrainian military’s decision-making.
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By GlobalDataIn this context, Ukraine’s military procurement processes have proven that they can translate ideas into systems within a matter of months in contrast to Western procurement systems, which are persistently backlogged and unable to keep pace with emerging technologies. The United States, for example, are currently undertaking a sweeping overhaul of its own slow and bureaucratic defence procurement protocols.
GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, points to Ukraine’s production of first-person view drones, which are guided by a user wearing virtual reality headsets, of which 200,000 units were manufactured between January and February 2024.
AI speeds decision-making
With this saturation of sensors in the battlespace, AI will then capture, manage, and distribute the data from the threats to C2 when and where it is needed.
“[AI] is recognising targets in the field and with so many sensor and targets in the battlefield, you need AI to assist you, to define who’s who, and [discern] what type of platforms you have in front of you,” they added.
“We will try to keep the man in the loop as much as we can, but I have a question: [what if] Russia, North Korea, Iran, and China decides to not keep it?
“Can we afford to stay behind and say ‘no, ethically it will be the men on the loop,’ especially for firing?”
