CommentDrone production is only part of a broader shift toward networked warfareFrom left: Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Both Beijing and Pyongyang continue to leverage Putin's war in Ukraine to accelerate their military technological development. (Nikkei montage/Source photo by Reuters) HIROYUKI AKITAJune 27, 2026 14:42 JSTTOKYO -- War is humanity's greatest tragedy, claiming countless lives, fracturing societies and leaving scars that endure for generations. Yet war is also, in its ironic way, a furnace of invention. Technologies forged in conflict spill into civilian life and, over time, reshape the character of conflict itself.