Basically, there are two ways to power a drone: internal combustion engines, and electric motors. Drones powered by internal combustion tend to be larger, heavier, faster, and more powerful. But electric drones tend to be much cheaper and can be manufactured in higher volumes. A Shahed drone, one of the smallest and cheapest internal combustion drones, costs somewhere between $20,000 and $375,000 apiece. In contrast, a DJI Mavic 3 costs around $2,000, while a larger Matrice 300 costs around $13,000. Both types of drones have their uses on the battlefield, meaning any country that can’t build or easily procure cheap electric-powered drones in large numbers is now at a disadvantage in war. Chinese companies currently have an overwhelmingly high market share in the manufacture of commercial electric drones, with DJI as the dominant player. The second-biggest company is the U.S.’ Skydio, but they’re still far behind DJI, and there are no other big U.S. drone-makers. This means that modern battlefields like Ukrai…