Abstract. Military conflicts in Syria and Nagorno-Karabakh have shown the increasing importance of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) on the battlefield. They have a significant impact on the character and forms of warfighting. In future wars a massive multi-stage and multi-echelon use of groups of reconnaissance and armed UAVs and loitering ammunitions is predicted which will greatly complicate the performance of air defense missions. An important trend is the increasing availability of various UAVs for both large and small states and even non-state armed groups. This in turn raises the risk of uncontrolled export of UAV technology.