13 points
These same countries are also investing massively in drone swarms, the recent Armenia and Ukraine conflicts shows us how useful they are. Not just for strikes but to spot indirect fire. And they’re cheap as hell compared to manned aircraft or US/Western made drones (which somehow manage to cost in the neighborhood of 10s of millions per drone). And the west has not really invested in defence against ballistic missiles, either. Kinda feels like 20 to 30 years of asymmetric warfare against poorly armed insurgents has really fucked up the western imperialist machines ability to plan and execute a war against a near peer. Like, I think they’re somehow still planning for a big Soviet tank push crossing the Rhine from the 70s and 80s.
