South Korea’s new drone strategy reflects a growing recognition that modern wars will be won not simply by fielding more unmanned aircraft, but by integrating large numbers of inexpensive drones into a military capable of deploying them quickly and effectively.

The defense ministry’s latest plan marks a decisive shift away from relying primarily on small numbers of sophisticated platforms toward mass procurement, decentralized operations and artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled capabilities inspired by lessons from Ukraine and the Middle East, where cheap, expendable drones have proven capable of overwhelming far costlier defenses.

The strategy calls for acquiring more than 20,000 low-cost drones,