Duc Duclos
The tactical victory that is reshaping modern views on artificial intelligence in warfare didn’t happen in a sterile lab but in the contested airspace over Ukraine and far behind enemy lines deep in Russian territory. In June 2025, a swarm of 117 commercially available drones, each costing about $600–$1,000 and equipped with AI navigation, successfully breached Russian airfield defenses. They damaged over 40 strategic aircraft, including Tu-95 bombers valued at billions. This operation, costing less than $120,000, achieved a cost-exchange ratio of over 1:1,000, fundamentally challenging traditional military economics and the use of AI.
This tactical success, named Operation “Spider Web” for its coordinated multi-vector approach, marks a significant step forward in the evolution of AI use by enhancing existing tactical functions through intelligence integration. However, this application only scratches the surface of AI’s transformative potential. The real change isn’t just about making current military tasks more efficient, but about enabling entirely new ways of operational thinking that surpass the cognitive limits that have constrained human warfare for thousands of years.
Since Colonel John Boyd introduced the Observe-Orient-Decide-Act (OODA) loop in the 1960s, military decision-making has been fundamentally sequential. Human cognition requires processing information, developing situational awareness, formulating decisions, and executing actions in a linear framework. Artificial intelligence, however, operates under no such constraint. While humans think in sequential loops, AI can engage in what this paper terms “Matrix Operations” and “Matrix Thinking:” simultaneous optimization across multiple domains, functions, and objectives in real-time.
This represents not merely an incremental improvement, but a fundamental paradigm shift comparable to the introduction of gunpowder or precision-guided munitions. The implications are particularly profound for Special Operations Forces (SOF), irregular warfare, and resistance operations, where small groups historically overcome asymmetric disadvantages through superior tactics and innovative technology. Matrix Operations promise to democratize capabilities previously exclusive to large military organizations, while enabling new forms of coordination that even major powers have not fully realized.
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