Elisabeth Gosselin-Malo is a Milan-based correspondent for Defense News.

Drones are now an integral part of the way conflicts are waged but Canada’s military is lagging behind in advances made to this crucial tool of modern warfare.

In November, the Department of National Defence said it does not intend on buying first-person view drones, also known as FPVs. These affordable drones allow the pilot to see as if they are inside the drone in real-time, usually through a headset, and are prized for their precision.

Until recently, FPVs were the purview of civilian hobbyists who used them primarily for racing or cinematography. While the idea of using FPV drones for warfare predates Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, their widespread deployment throughout the war as low-cost steerable miniature warheads capable of achieving lethal impact has significantly increased global interest in their military applications. Thousands of these systems fly across the sky over the Ukraine battlefield daily, allowing users to follow enemy equipment or troops and strike them around the clock.

As they are smaller and faster than other types of drones, they can avoid detection and maneuver into buildings and vehicles more easily. Recent footage shows Russian and Ukrainian pilots frequently flying the drones into the open hatches of armoured vehicles, resulting in an explosion on personnel inside or nearby. More recently, FPVs have proven increasingly effective at striking far more expensive and larger targets on the battlefield, such as combat helicopters, which is not an easy task, as a result of their increased range and flying speed.

One big advantage of these weapons is their affordability in contrast to other drones on the market. Whereas larger systems can cost tens of thousands or even millions of dollars, FPVs can often be bought for hundreds of dollars.

It is primarily this money-saving advantage, coupled with the tactical versatility FPVs provide, that has attracted the attention of militaries globally. These have included armies with enormous budgets such as the United States, as well as ones with limited resources that can buy much larger batches of these drones, given their lower cost.

U.S. military officials have been adamant about their desire to use FPVs and to equip infantry platoons with them. Britain has been training some of its soldiers on using these systems as part of a project to integrate new tech and capabilities into its existing forces.

The Canadian military should be learning from the lessons identified in Ukraine and be adequately prepared to fight with and against FPV drones. This could begin by buying an initial batch of them to train soldiers on how to use and defend against them and later deciding to follow in other countries’ footsteps by creating a dedicated FPV drone unit to exploit their capabilities further. In future military operations, these platforms could serve as essential tools for the armed forces to carry out reconnaissance, target identification and direct strike missions against potential adversaries. Their highly lethal effects would also allow the military to employ them at scale against key enemy weapons such as artillery units as well as air-defence and armoured vehicles, preserving more expansive assets for other instances.

The decision not to acquire FPV drones is short-sighted as the Canadian Armed Forces could leverage them as multitools: as an attack platform capable of carrying different explosives and striking specific targets or as their eyes in the sky to scout inaccessible areas and possible forward threats. Experts are predicting that with the advancement of artificial intelligence and machine learning, these drones could be used in swarms to overwhelm adversary defences.

More broadly, this choice reflects bigger issues that have plagued Canadian defence for some time: fear of change regarding the purchase of new military equipment and procurement paralysis, with decisions taking decades to reach.

Canada ranks 31st among NATO’s 32 member countries regarding the proportion of money that is spent on new military equipment and related research and development. Such indecision is also illustrated in the fact that the Royal Canadian Air Force began advocating for the government to buy a fleet of drones in 2007, and 16 years passed before it committed to the purchase.

Not adapting fast enough to these new types of military technologies, especially when they are proven, affordable and within reach, may hinder the strength of the Canadian military.