According to reports, Colombian drug cartels and other illegal armed groups are seeking to acquire advanced drone warfare expertise from Ukraine, aiming to use the capabilities against the Colombian military. The Colombian Defense Ministry estimates that such groups carried out 264 drone attacks between 2024 and 2025, primarily using low-cost drones adapted to drop explosives. The Colombian army intercepted 96% of those attempts, leading the groups to seek Ukrainian tactics to overcome the defenses.
A new report from unspecified Israeli media details the Colombian Defense Ministry's assessment that illegal armed groups, including drug cartels, carried out 264 drone attacks between 2024 and 2025. The attacks predominantly used low-cost drones modified to drop explosives. The Colombian army reportedly intercepted 96% of these attempts through radio-frequency jamming and physical destruction of the devices, leading the groups to seek more advanced tactics from Ukraine.
The report follows an earlier bulletin by The Zioneer that cited a Financial Times story on hundreds of Colombian citizens, including cartel fighters, being sent to Ukraine to learn drone warfare. The new information provides the Colombian government's own data on the scale of the drone threat, and suggests a deliberate effort by illegal armed groups to acquire Ukrainian expertise in order to defeat the military's countermeasures.
The figures attributed to the Colombian Defense Ministry have not been independently verified, and the report does not specify which media outlet initially published the information. The trend of drug cartels seeking foreign drone expertise represents a growing challenge for the Colombian military and underscores the global proliferation of drone warfare techniques.
- DevelopingFT: Hundreds of Colombian citizens, including cartel fighters, sent to Ukraine to learn drone warfare
- DevelopingRussia claims to have intercepted 500 Ukrainian drones in past day
- DevelopingRussia says it downed 419 Ukrainian drones overnight, including 61 over Moscow
- DevelopingUkrainian drones reportedly attack Russian drones carrying ground unmanned vehicles
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