David's Sling--Drones, Sniper Rifles, and Asymmetric Warfare
Long range sniper rifles.
These simple weapons—tens of millions of times cheaper than stealth bombers—are the new David’s sling … the primary tools of 21st century asymmetric warfare.
Weaponized hobby drones and long range sniper rifles have turned the chess board of modern warfare upside down.
They are the domestic security planner’s worst nightmare.
These cheap and easy to buy … or make … weapons don’t respect traditional security perimeters.
And they don’t respect geography.
The simple scenarios they present have shaken up the most thoughtful among the men and women responsible for protecting America’s most precious jewels.
The guardians of everything from presidents to strategic bombers have traditionally relied on security perimeters to keep evil people with bad ideas away from … and out of range of … very important people and priceless weapons systems.
The theory is that if you can’t get inside the perimeter … if you can’t get close to the target with your weapon … then you can’t do anything bad.
Think of airport security check points.
America’s geographic isolation and sophisticated air defense systems have been a formidable security perimeter for our domestic airfields and other important assets … impenetrable short of all-out war.
But drones can go over, around, or through the most well-armed security checkpoint.
And long range sniper rifles can strike their target from a range that is miles away from most practical security perimeters.
The Ukrainians proved these points by using both types of weapons to astoundingly good effect in their struggle for freedom against the Russian invasion.
Drones … or unmanned aerial vehicles, if you prefer … have been around for decades. But until recently they have been large, technically sophisticated, and costly weapons.
The Ukrainian military remade the arsenal of modern war by building small, comparatively inexpensive drones. These are little more than hobby drone bombs.
The stunning Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian airfields demonstrated the possibility of a new kind of asymmetric warfare.
By clever planning and daring operational techniques, the Ukrainians got their drones close enough to simply fly out of a box and quickly soar over the Russian airfields’ security perimeters.
They wreaked havoc on parked aircraft.
It was Pearl Harbor all over again.
The long range sniper rifle presents a different but equally serious security problem. Again, the Ukrainians showed the world how it could be done.
In November 2023, a 58-year-old Ukrainian sniper named Viacheslav Kovalsky, set a new world record by shooting a Russian soldier from a distance of 3,800 meters, or 4,156 yards. That’s about 2.4 miles—slightly more than the distance from the Lincoln Memorial to the United States Capitol building on the Washington Mall.
Or 41 football fields end-to-end.
American security experts quickly noted that an entire range of targets in the United States homeland—from airfields to publicly pontificating politicians—are vulnerable to similar attacks by drones and long range sniper rifles.
Oceans, barbed wire fences, and armed checkpoints are no longer effective security perimeters. New defensive techniques are urgently needed.
The task of defending against drone attacks is compounded by the fact that anyone from state-sponsored and financed international terrorists to mentally ill domestic crackpots can build cheap and effective weapons in basic home workshops. Almost anyone in America can buy … or build … and arm small drones.
And long range sniper rifles are legal in all but a few states.
A B-2 bomber costs on average slightly more than $2 billion.
Sure, it can reach halfway around the world.
But the Ukrainians proved that clever planning and daring operations can put adequate levels of force precisely on valuable targets with much less expense.
The price of a beginner drone is about $500. More expensive professional drones start at about $10,000. Even a high end $60,000 drone is cheap compared to the price of a basic military armored vehicle, much less a B-2 bomber.
Likewise, the cost of a long range sniper rifle ranges from a low of about $5,000 to as much as $25,000 or more for custom built or modified versions.
That’s why it’s called asymmetric warfare.
The good news is that America’s military and domestic security forces have always been very good at protecting and defending the nation from the evil designs of her enemies, both foreign and domestic.
Source: David's Sling--Drones, Sniper Rifles, and Asymmetric Warfare
