Combat drone R18 in action in Ukraine (Youtube link)
The video above shows small drones dropping highly accurate though relatively small munitions and destroying heavy Russian armored vehicles, including tanks. It is interesting - I wonder how many centuries of perception is put to rest by these images.
For centuries people feared enemies - of whom, with wars being an ever-present part of life, here was rarely a shortage - and wished for bigger and more fearsome weapons to fight those enemies off with. And more fearsome weapons have come into being for sure - only they are not bigger, they are smaller and more accurate, they are "smarter", they are stealthier - and that seems to be the way of the military thought, and this is the winning trend, at least over the last century or so. Anyone remember the German "super guns" - the huge artillery pieces from the World War 2 era that weighed over 1,000 tons? They did exist, they were at the top of the technology involved in their design and manufacture - they were just part of an outdated conceptual thinking.
New military technologies, being smaller and lighter, can likely become much less expensive than those of yesteryear. Various countries' military industrial complexes will likely not be very fond of that and may be clinging to producing old-style heavy equipment for a time. But progress can only be delayed, not stopped.
And these cheaper, lighter technologies will make more parties armed - thus bringing in peace, American style. "Armed society is polite society", as they say. At least so I hope.
References
UKRAINIAN DRONE UNIT AEROROZVIDKA EAGER TO STRIKE AT NIGHT “WHEN RUSSIANS SLEEP”
Haye Kesteloo, DroneXL, 21 March 2022
Combat drone R18 in action in Ukraine (Youtube link)
Nazi Germany Built the Biggest 'Big Gun' Ever (And it Was a Total Paper Tiger)
James Simpson, The National Interest, 2 August 2017
Türkiye also sold combat drones to Ukraine.
Oh, yeah, with the emergence of the Bayraktars and similar technology Turkey clearly established itself as a prime rate military equipment vendor. Without having a huge budget dedicated to that, AFAIK.