Ukraine's Spiderweb Attacks Show How a Superpower Can Be Vulnerable
After months of planning, the Ukrainian military, working with an army of drone nerds, smuggled 117 aerial drones on the backs of trucks to the perimeter of four Russian air bases. They promptly blew away 34% of Russia's strategic cruise missile carriers.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called Sunday’s attacks the “Spiderweb” operation. Ukraine's security service, the SBU, put the estimated cost to the Kremlin at $7 billion.
NBC news called it stunning, audacious attack (which it was). They also said it ‘lays bare’ Putin’s vulnerability.
They neglected to mention that it also shows how vulnerable we can be.
Pilot and Rocket guy Scott Manley mentioned it. He saw how a similar drone strike on the USA would be relatively easy to carry out and wondered how we could prevent a similar attack here without weakening constitutional freedoms.
Noah Smith expanded on this concern by imagining “100 shipping containers from China suddenly opening up and releasing tens of thousands of drones that destroy the entire U.S. Navy in port and take out the U.S. Air Force on the ground.”
I imagined this back in 2010. I’m sure the US military also saw this possibility. Back then, our government could have taken two paths:
#1. Make drone and robotic tech a part of every kids’ education. Encourage drone innovation in the civilian sector. Share the tech with the military. Get ahead of everyone else. Profit in the civilian and military sectors.
#2. Fear your own citizens and this new technology. Restrict drone use, punish and fine anyone who dares to question the rules, jealously guard all innovations. Encourage mass hysteria about anything drone-related. (see: the NJ drone attacks).
Of course, our fearful leaders chose the latter. The results:
Our educators neglect STEM and focus on belongingness and sexual health. Kids in Blue states can’t read or write at grade level.
When faced with any sort of drone in the sky, most Americans react like a primitive tribe. They throw rocks at it. Or shoot it.
This was a huge contrast to our Sputnik response. In 1957 Sputnik, the first artificial Earth satellite was launched by America’s Cold War enemy, the Soviet Union, into an elliptical low Earth orbit. At that point in time, it seemed as if the Soviets were poised to take over the highest ground, space.
Fear of Space Commies forced the American government to see the value of education in general. Particularly STEM. Smart kids and grownups launched the Space Race, an era of great political, military, technological, and scientific progress.
If 1957 America reacted to Sputnik the way we’re currently reacting to civilian drones, I’d guess that our current status on the world stage would be equivalent to Honduras. And we’d all be speaking Russian.
It’s not too late for our educators to start focusing on science and innovation. Kids are smart and always willing to learn. But with the Left-leaning education system’s jihad against Trump and anything slightly Right-Wing, it’s doubtful that things will improve in our prestigious Northeastern schools.
However, there’s always Mississippi.