A Ukrainian drone attack has destroyed billions of dollars worth of Russian aircraft stationed at bases across the country, including at locations as far away as Siberia, in what Kyiv claims is its longest-range assault of the war.
The spectacular operation, known as Spiderweb, was prepared in secret over 18 months. Ukraine’s agents moved short-range drones and explosives inside Russia before they were launched remotely for a coordinated strike on Sunday that was intended to strike at Moscow’s air superiority.
Vasyl Maliuk, the head of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), said drones were smuggled into Russia and placed inside containers, which were later loaded on to trucks.
With the trucks positioned near Russian bases, the roof panels of the containers were lifted off by a remotely activated mechanism, allowing the drones to fly out and begin their attack. The drones had first-person view, or FPV, technology that allowed them to be operated remotely, hitting planes worth a combined $7 billion at four airbases.
This was Russia's Pearl Harbour! This was the sort of stuff they'll be writing books and making movies about in years to come, by which time, we all hope, the Ukrainians will have sent the Russians home.
In the meantime, this new way of waging war will make military planners all over the world scratch their heads. How closely do they — or can they — monitor all the truck traffic that streams past their bases? Do they know what happens in every nearby property from which an adversary could launch swarms of drones with no warning? For many years now, for instance, Chinese interests have been buying large amounts of farmland right next to important U.S. military bases. They could be growing soybeans, but they could also be staging grounds for drone swarms that would make the Ukrainian attacks look minuscule.
