Resilience: The New Front Line in ISTAR Dominance

The conflict in Ukraine has fundamentally altered the calculus of modern warfare. While Western defence procurement often chases “bleeding-edge” technical specifications, the reality of the modern battlespace suggests a different priority. In the fight for Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition, and Reconnaissance (ISTAR) dominance, resilience is now more critical than technical complexity.

By Justin Hedges, Executive Chairman of Prevail Partners, and Pavlo Shevchuk, International CEO of Skyeton. Published on May 4, 2026.

The war in Ukraine has become one of the most technologically dynamic conflicts of the modern era. It is also the first large-scale war in which unmanned aerial systems have moved from a supporting role to a central component of battlefield intelligence.

Several themes stand out:

1. Reliability and endurance determine whether systems can operate consistently in contested conditions.
2. ISR architectures are also likely to evolve towards more distributed and resilient sensing networks.
3. Partnerships between deployed forces and industry enable these lessons to be learnt in a relevant timeframe.

Performance vs. Specifications

In Ukraine, a platform with ambitious specifications is worthless if it cannot survive the electromagnetic and environmental pressures of the front line. Instead, true ISTAR dominance is built on reliability. Platforms designed with durability, endurance and stable performance in mind tend to deliver more consistent results.

Missions are long, routes are indirect, and electronic warfare is constant. Systems without sufficient endurance risk reaching the target area without the margin to complete the mission, while limited reliability reduces availability over time.

Experience from Ukrainian operators that Skyeton has worked with highlights the importance of designing for consistent performance rather than headline specifications. Raybird is one of the Ukrainian platforms engineered to sustain long-duration missions through efficient airframe design and simplified launch and recovery. Operational use in Ukraine has validated these principles under real conditions, with Raybird accumulating more than 350,000 flight hours in combat operations.

In this environment, effectiveness is defined by consistency: systems must launch reliably, maintain communications, tolerate temperature extremes and remain functional under electronic warfare pressure, while providing sufficient endurance margin to complete the mission.

These lessons have direct implications for defence procurement. As Western militaries accelerate the adoption of unmanned systems, operational resilience must remain central to design.

The Russian forces know this, and they ruthlessly target drones and drone operators. Seeking out the enablers of ISTAR to gain an edge in support of their attacks on the frontline. A lot of drones have been donated to Ukraine, but those with extensive operational flight hours in contested environments provide a more reliable indicator of real-world performance than technical specifications alone.

Rethinking ISTAR resilience

For years, Western ISR has relied on a handful of sophisticated, high-cost platforms like the RQ-4 Global Hawk or MQ-9 Reaper. While these assets offer exceptional sensing, their limited numbers create a “single point of failure” in high-intensity conflicts. They also need the appropriate conditions to be set before they can be used, as Operation Epic Fury has demonstrated.

In a more contested environment like Ukraine, however, the following shifts in ISTAR structures are non-negotiable:

• From Concentration to Distribution: Rather than relying on a few exquisite assets, resilience is found in distributed sensing networks.
• Overlapping Coverage: By using multiple platforms, from long-endurance drones like Raybird to tactical UAVs, commanders can maintain a continuous flow of data even when individual units are jammed or lost.
• The Power of being expendable: Systems must be designed for large-scale combat where attrition is a constant.

Rather than relying on a small number of high-end assets, Ukraine’s ISTAR is distributed across systems operating at different ranges and with different sensing functions.

This builds on traditional ISR models but adapts them for large-scale combat, where high-end platforms are limited and increasingly vulnerable to disruption. Long-endurance systems provide wide-area coverage and cueing, while smaller, expendable UAVs operate closer to the tactical fight, focusing on specific areas, targets or sensing tasks.

This means a commander in Ukraine may have a system like Raybird conducting long-range reconnaissance. As well as shorter-range drones focused on the frontline, with some radars adding to the overall situational awareness. Regardless of the systems used, distribution and dispersion are essential, as is the ability to deploy sensing payloads that work in different aspects of the electromagnetic spectrum. Raybird’s support for multiple payload types, including EO/IR gimbals and RF locator payloads, is a direct response to this requirement, allowing the platform to contribute across different layers of a distributed ISR network rather than serve as a standalone asset.

• Skyeton and Prevail Partners Form Drone Joint Venture
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The advantage is resilience. Overlapping sensors and capabilities allow the overall ISR picture to be maintained even as individual systems are jammed, degraded or lost. This persistence reduces uncertainty, sustains situational awareness and ensures a continuous flow of targeting data despite a contested environment.

Protecting the Ultimate Asset

Beyond the hardware, the shift toward resilient, unmanned ISR is a moral and operational imperative to protect trained personnel. Every mission shifted to a long-endurance UAS preserves experienced operators for tasks requiring essential human judgement. Persistent aerial surveillance allows units to monitor wide areas without repeatedly exposing reconnaissance teams to direct fire.

Furthermore, persistent ISR coverage has a direct impact on how commanders manage risk. Units can monitor activity across wide areas, track changes and maintain situational awareness without repeatedly deploying reconnaissance teams into exposed positions.

It also improves the speed and precision of decision-making, allowing commanders to judge when and where to deploy personnel, and to direct manned elements to offset gaps caused by electronic warfare or environmental constraints. This advantage, however, is not one-sided. Adversaries can generate similar persistence, increasing the risk of detection and targeting. Mitigation therefore depends on disciplined fieldcraft, effective signature management and, where possible, using friendly ISR to validate concealment and reduce exposure.

The industry-frontline feedback loop

Effective capability development depends on close interaction between those designing systems and those operating them in demanding environments.

Ukraine’s battlefield experience has generated substantial operational knowledge about unmanned systems operating under contested conditions. Technologies that continue to perform in this environment offer valuable insights for partners seeking reliable and resilient capabilities.

• Ukrainian drones to deploy synthetic aperture radar from Harmattan AI
• US Army orders long-range reconnaissance drones

Partnerships allow these lessons to feed directly into engineering improvements, sensor integration and operational concepts. In Ukraine, this is driven by close collaboration between manufacturers and frontline units, where systems are used in combat conditions and operator feedback is rapidly translated into design refinements.

Skyeton’s experience reflects this model, with developments such as SATCOM integration tested in theatre and iterated using direct input from crews operating under electronic warfare pressure. Collaboration also extends between manufacturers, combining platforms and payloads to meet specific operational needs: Skyeton’s integration of Quadsat’s RF spectrum-monitoring payload onto Raybird is a concrete example, combining Raybird’s proven endurance with Quadsat’s electromagnetic warfare sensing capability to find and track Russian systems. Together, these partnerships accelerate the cycle between battlefield experience and capability development.

Calibre comment: Persistence and adaptability should lead the ISTAR battle

The future of ISTAR does not belong to the most expensive sensor, but to the most persistent and adaptable network. For Western militaries, the lesson is clear: prioritise operational resilience over headline specifications. To win the next war, our systems must be as durable as the personnel they are designed to protect.