Can any nation protect against a Ukraine-style drone smuggling attack?
On 1 June, Ukraine stunned the world with an audacious attack against Russian airbases. Using cheap, small drones concealed inside trucks that had penetrated deep into Russian territory, Ukraine was able to hit dozens of nuclear-capable strategic bombers, taking out 7 billion of military hardware. The drone-smuggling attack, codenamed Operation Spiderweb, was an incredible feat of military planning – but it also highlighted a vulnerability that has defence chiefs around the world concerned that their assets could be hit next. "The risk potentials of small drone attacks to US or UK air bases right now are 100 per cent," says Robert Bunker at US consultancy firm C/O Futures. "You simply need a group with the intent and capability, which is a very low bar to overcome."
Jun-12-2025, 10:20:07 GMT
- Country:
- Asia
- Europe
- Russia (0.09)
- Ukraine (0.90)
- United Kingdom (0.05)
- North America > United States (0.15)
- Industry:
- Government > Military > Air Force (0.95)
- Technology:
- Information Technology > Artificial Intelligence > Robots > Autonomous Vehicles > Drones (1.00)