Know Your Enemy

An NVIDIA chip in a Russian combat drone. U.S. components in the FSB’s radio equipment. Off-the-shelf technology that kills. Enno Lenze brings Russian drones back from the front lines to Berlin, takes them apart in the workshop at the Berlin Story Bunker, and shows what’s inside: Western technology can be found in almost every large drone—despite all the sanctions. The book explains how the war of maneuver evolved into drone warfare and how it works today: the Molnia kamikaze drone, which kills a person for ten euros; the Shahed’s mesh modem, which turns the drones into a swarm; jammers and scanners in the battle for every radio frequency; and artificial intelligence that identifies targets on its own in the field. Using more than 30 analyzed drones, Lenze shows how the chips make their way to Russia, why the sanctions are having an effect yet are still failing—and what this form of warfare means for Europe. With over 50 color illustrations: photos of disassembled drones, circuit boards, and components on display at the Ukraine Museum in Berlin—the only drone exhibition of its kind in Europe.