US military risks falling behind in race to copy battlefield innovations, report warns

In Ukraine, Russian and Ukrainian forces routinely copy each other’s advances quickly, leaving little time for either side to exploit an advantage. A Ukrainian service member and a U.S. airman look at materials in the innovation lab at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, March 8, 2023. Ukraine’s drone innovations have been studied and copied by Russia, the United States and others. (Jared Lovett/U.S. Air Force) The U.S. military may be too slow to steal its enemies’ best ideas, losing a potential edge on a future battlefield that will put a premium on being the quickest copycat, according to a new think tank assessment. “The core idea here is that advantage lies not in the original idea but in the speed and skill with which it is copied, adapted and enhanced,” said Mick Ryan, a retired Australian army general and author of the study, which examines the race to emulate military innovations.

In Ukraine, Russian and Ukrainian forces routinely copy each other’s advances within weeks, leaving little time for either side to exploit an advantage. But there are signs that U.S. forces aren’t keeping pace, according to the report, which was released Thursday by the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies. A LUCAS drone sits on a tarmac with others at a base in the U.S. Central Command area on Nov.