It took Ukraine 18 months to plan Operation Spider Web, but just minutes for its swarm of cheap drones to send a $7 billion message to Russia and the world: war is entering a new epoch. An age of asymmetric power has arrived, and it is disordering traditional power dynamics everywhere, from how armies fight to how citizens relate to their rulers.
Last weekend, over 100 first-person view Ukrainian drones whacked four air bases across Russia — the furthest in Siberia — severely diminishing Russia’s offensive air capabilities. Zelensky’s message was clear: we can hit you wherever you are, with technology you can buy for thousands of dollars or less on the internet.
Yet if operation Spider Web was part MacGyver, it was also part le Carré. The Ukrainians had their drones smuggled on lorries well in advance of the strikes. The weapons were hidden in containers disguised as sheds, before being transported into Russia by lorry. These were then parked near the air bases, before Ukraine remotely opened their retractable roofs and launched their cargo to devastating effect.
Drones evoke a simple truth: hoard technology, especially military technology, and you centralise power. Disperse it and watch that power dissipate alongside it.
Historically, war was an intimate affair. For millennia, the only way to kill someone was if you could see them. That remained true even with the invention of gunpowder. Machine guns and howitzers can certainly fire further, but still require proximity. The basic dynamics were always the same: men and machines clashed on the ground. Success depended on outlasting or overpowering the enemy through force, numbers, or strategic positioning.
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