A fence is for people. A flock is for the sky. Buy the guns that shoot small.
STRATCOM official calls Ukraine's Operation Spiderweb utterly eye-opening as US looks to defend nuclear triad
A truck roof lifted. Drones ate a fighter line. STRATCOM still talks about it. Barksdale already saw unknown birds.
Summary
- The Washington Examiner, aboard a C-17 over Nebraska, reports a STRATCOM official called Ukraine's Operation Spiderweb, last year's truck-borne drone strike on Russian aircraft, utterly eye-opening and said leaders still discuss it.
- Ukraine smuggled drones into Russia on a truck. At the site, the roof lifted, the drones flew, and dozens of nearby Russian aircraft were destroyed. The driver did not know the load.
- STRATCOM manages the nuclear triad: about 14 submarines, 400 ICBMs, and 140 bombers. Officials said they are actively looking at protecting nuclear command, control, and communications against emerging drone and counter-drone threats.
- Unidentified drones were caught flying over Barksdale Air Force Base, home of B-52s, earlier this year. There was no attack. Officials said the incident showed how an attack could happen.
Commentary
A crew chief on a bomber ramp still smells JP-8 and wants the night sky to be empty unless it is one of ours. He does not need a white paper if a truck roof can lift in a farm lane.
That is the gap. Fourteen boats. Four hundred ICBMs. One hundred forty bombers. A cheap flock already wrote a lesson on a Russian flight line. Barksdale saw unknown birds. The honest taxpayer paid for a triad. A plywood roof almost made it a museum.
Ask every missileer: if a truck can hide a flock, who still calls a fence the perimeter?
Comments
I walked a B-52 line. Unknown birds over Barksdale is not a weather report.
NC3 is a lawful target set for an enemy. Counter-UAS policy has to let a defender shoot first.
Japan already treats cheap drones as a base problem. Copy the intercept, not the surprise.
Watch the 'do not escalate over a toy' memos. Spiderweb was not a toy.
I wrench on a civilian apron. If Barksdale can be buzzed, my city airport is not magic.
A triad that cannot swat a flock is a retirement plan for the wrong country.
Fourteen, 400, 140. Write those numbers on the counter-drone budget and stop studying the truck.
The Examiner printed the truck roof, dozens of aircraft, Barksdale, and the triad counts. Argue those nouns.
Arm the perimeter. Clear the rules. Treat every unknown bird over a bomber base as a raid until it is not.