Ultimate Satoshi on Nostr: 🇮🇱 One of the world’s most sophisticated militaries is equipping its soldiers ...

🇮🇱 One of the world’s most sophisticated militaries is equipping its soldiers with 12-gauge shotguns to shoot down $400 drones.

That tells you everything about where drone warfare stands right now.

Israel's Iron Beam laser system, which was supposed to solve this problem, only works in clear weather, among other flaws…

And they’re not the only ones struggling.

The Gulf States burned through 900 Patriot interceptors in the first 4 days of the Iran war, more than Ukraine used against Russia in 4 years.

U.S. defense contractors are working to address this asymmetry:

The Coyote interceptor, Anduril's reusable Roadrunner, Blue Halo's Locust laser, Epirus's Leonidas microwave weapon…

But the counter-drone office created in 2020 accidentally made it illegal for itself to buy hardware, and its replacement only got real spending authority last August.

Meanwhile Ukraine, which began its war with jerry-rigged commercial quadcopters, now produces 3 million drones a year.

They have the world's first dedicated drone military branch, and sent 200 counter-drone advisers to Saudi, UAE, Qatar, and Kuwait when the Iran war started.

Because their systems were literally plug-and-play against Iranian Shaheds.

Ukraine even offered to share all of this with Trump first, but Washington passed.

The trillion dollar question is whether the U.S. and Israel can close this gap before the next war starts…

Because the current conflict has already proven that cheap drones are beating expensive interceptors every single time.

Source: WarFronts YT