The news of Ukraine’s drone attack on Soviet air bases contains within it the seeds of a wholesale change in the methods of war.
For one, simply the use of cheap, expendable drones instead of big expensive metal like fighter planes and warships.
For another, and surely more importantly, the use of AI in planning and launching the attack. As this article explains, the drones were “trained” to recognize the Soviet bombers over the course of a year, and more to the point to know where the most vulnerable parts of the bomber were (fuel tanks and missile pods.) And when they were let loose they were not “controlled” in any way except by their AI training.
They were not tethered to GPS nor to a joystick flyboy in some remote area. They knew what they were looking for thanks to Kyiv’s museum of old Russian bombers, photographed and consumed by a thousand different photos from every possible angle. Then they were smuggled into the country on ordinary merchant trucks, and on signal let loose.
The results - for Russia - are devastating, taking out 1/3 of their bomber force, many of which have been out of production for years even decades, and which are not easily reconstituted as part of the Russian Air Force.
I don’t have a verified source yet, but there are social media reports from inside Russia that there is official panic about the drone attack, and that there are moves afoot which will harm, if not cripple the Russian economy.
There are roadblocks up, trucks are being stopped and searched, truck drivers are under suspicion, deliveries are interrupted, shelves are going empty. 70% of the Russian economy moves on trucks, so this is not a small matter.
As I predicted, a truck phobia has now begun in russia – massive traffic jams have hit the Irkutsk region, and every cargo truck is being inspected.
Recently, I explained why Ukraine chose to publicly disclose so much information about Operation “Spiderweb.” By revealing how the operation was executed – including the use of concealed drones inside decoy trucks driven across 5,000 kilometers of russian territory – Ukraine imposed both psychological and economic costs on russia.
Now, every russian cargo truck is a potential threat. Every driver is a suspect. As a result, russian authorities are being forced to:
Divert resources to inspect and monitor domestic transport routes
Increase surveillance and internal security across tens of thousands of kilometers of highways
Slow down military and civilian logistics nationwide
Mistrust their own citizens – especially private drivers and contractors – fueling paranoia and bottlenecks
And today, we’re already seeing this in action.
Russia is panicking. It’s halting trucks, blocking roads, and launching a full-scale clampdown on logistics out of fear that another drone attack might be hiding in plain sight.
Actually, it reminds me of “Across The Pacific”. In the film, the bad guys ship an airplane, broken down into sections, in crates, to a plantation near the Panama Canal. Then the plane is assembled, to take off and attack the canal locks. In spite of the title, they never make it to the Pacific, as they start in Halifax, and end in Panama. Originally, the plot was to assemble the plane in Hawaii and attack Pearl Harbor, but the film was still in production when Pearl was attacked. so the target was changed to the canal.
Steve…has a special section in his DVD library for Bogart movies
