Ukraine is becoming a showroom for modern weaponry

The war in Ukraine has become a testing ground for new technology, an opportunity to develop weapons and find different ways of fighting. Nations that are supposedly neutral have been sending weapons to the front line to find out just how they work in the heat of battle.

This is a relatively new trend in the history of warfare, one that first emerged in the 1936-39 Spanish Civil War. The backers of both sides treated the war not just as a testing range but also a showroom. The Germans, supporting Franco’s nationalists, first tried Blitzkrieg on the Spanish peninsula. Hermann Göring saw the civil war as a chance ‘to test my young Luftwaffe’. The German Condor Legion fielded Messerschmitt fighters and Heinkel medium-range bombers, later used by the Germans in the Blitz attacks on London.

Also present in Spain was Germany’s new 8.8cm Flak cannon, whose real-world use helped sell the powerful weapon to Italy and Finland. The Soviets were less strategic in their support for the opposing Spanish republicans but even so, thousands of soldiers and airmen gained combat experience and learned what Blitzkrieg felt like from the losing side. 

Since Vladimir Putin’s invasion, Ukraine has become a similar showcase for arms exporters as well as something of a proxy war between international rivals. From the very start of the war, Ukraine’s so-called ‘Alibaba army’ of commercial, off-the-shelf drones bought from the Chinese wholesaler offered it an unexpected edge. The drones were first used for surveillance but were soon modified to drop grenades or be packed with explosives to slam into Russian targets.

The capacity for turning what they had into what they needed has proven to be something of a Ukrainian characteristic, also reflecting their command structures.