Ukraine is making low-cost disposable weaponry the future of warfare

Ukraine's Operation Spiderweb was an extraordinary success

They destroyed approximately 41 Russian bombers worth $7 billion using drones costing just $2,000 apiece

when accounting for explosives and other added features. Ukrainian officials briefed U.S. senators on the details of the operation

and how the same strategy could be used in future conflicts. Straight Arrow News spoke with Senators Richard Blumenthal and Andy Kim

about what the American military can learn from the operation and what it means for the future of warfare

Drones have revolutionized warfare in this century. What the American military must learn from Operation Spiderweb

is every base is vulnerable to this kind of swarm attack by small, lightweight drones carrying destructive explosives

And second, we need to be on the offensive. We need to be manufacturing many more drones

Ukraine is going to manufacture 4.5 million drones this year. The United States, 100,000

We are no longer at the tip of the spear in terms of UAV or drone warfare And the American military better get it What we saw was a remarkable operation Operation Spiderweb that the Ukrainians undertook

It was extraordinary on their end, but it does expose not only our weaknesses when it comes to defense

but also what is our strategic plan to be able to defend against this type of threat

as well as our opportunities to be able to utilize it. So I think that this is a real wake-up call where we need to be thinking about this

both in terms of the opportunities but also the consequences. What are the weaknesses that you just referred to that America needs to fix or strengthen

Well, look, I mean, I experienced this in a bizarre way last December and November

when there was all sorts of reports about potential drones above the skies of New Jersey

Thankfully, it seemed like a lot of that was not correct. but the fact that we just didn't understand what was or wasn't happening, including at our military bases in New Jersey

So, you know, there is a very clear challenge here. I pressed the FAA to try to have a better understanding of how we can be able to identify different types of drones or UAV UAS systems above our skies But we don have I have not seen any type of indication that we have a comprehensive strategy behind this You mentioned that the drones are similar to IEDs in Iraq

Is this now going to be like a standard operating procedure in war? You know

where you first started to see it in Iraq, but now we're starting to see these small devices that..

Absolutely. I mean, I think that a lot of warfare is moving more towards

to put disposable weaponry. I mean, think about it. They were able to, if the Ukrainians were correct in the number of aircraft that they took down

41 aircraft that they say that they destroyed, that was about $7 billion in damage

Each of these drone systems cost about $2,000. So that's about a little over $200,000 worth of drone equipment that inflicted $7 billion of damage

Any single missile system that we have costs millions of dollars. I mean, you know, the ability on a cost level and damage level is extraordinary

And the problem here is that every country in the world will have this kind of capabilities

as well as any terrorist organization or any type of organization that seeks to do us harm

I don't mean to sound an alarm. I not trying to tell the American people that we under immediate imminent threat Definitely not But we need to be prepared for this change because it is going to be the future of warfare Ukraine proved drones can be successfully launched for an attack from

anywhere. With that in mind, it's worth remembering that China owns an estimated 380,000 acres of U.S

land in close proximity to 19 military bases around the country. Does the drone warfare and

what happened with Operation Spiderweb make you and the Senate have to reconsider China buying

farmland near American military bases? I have advocated for some time that we scrutinize and

investigate more closely Chinese purchases of property, whether it's farmland or anything else

near our bases, or in general in the United States. One of the lessons of Operation Spiderweb

is that drones can be transported thousands of miles and then made lethal. So property anywhere

in this country owned by China puts us at risk. And second, the technology that China is developing

and the amount of drones sold here puts us in grave peril. The vast majority of drones sold in

the United States are made in China, potentially a danger of surveillance and even attack

I'm Ray Bogan for Straight Hour News. For more reporting, download the SAN app