Cheap drones push militaries to rethink survival, not just defense

Cheap drones and swarms are pushing militaries to rethink how they protect bases, aircraft and infrastructure, and the answer increasingly runs underground.

Snapshot

Military.com reports that a suspected Iranian drone plot against RAF Fairford, Army drone-swarm testing at Fort Bragg, and Russian strikes on Ukraine's power grid all point to the same strain: active defenses like Patriot and THAAD are expensive and limited, while cheap drones keep coming. Asher Katz of defense company Traysar argues survivability, not just firepower, is what determines whether a force can keep fighting.

Key points

• Fairford scare: The U.S. moved B-1 bombers out of RAF Fairford in October after intelligence pointed to a possible Iranian drone attack, which British Prime Minister Andy Burnham said was "almost certainly" directed by Iran's IRGC; Iran has denied involvement.
• Swarm testing: During the Army's Scarlet Dragon 26-3 exercise at Fort Bragg, soldiers tested sensors, electronic warfare and air defenses against coordinated drone swarms of up to 100 aircraft.
• Iran's tunnels reopened: Satellite imagery reviewed by CNN showed Iran reopened at least 50 of 69 struck tunnel entrances across 18 missile bases, raising questions about whether strikes destroyed stored missiles or just blocked access.
• Old tactic, modern relevance: A 2025 Army assessment cited Russian troops using roughly 15 kilometers of pipeline near Sudzha, while China has built thousands of underground facilities, per the Pentagon's 2024 China Military Power Report.
• Beyond bunkers: Katz says dispersal, camouflage, hardening and netting matter as much as digging, calling subterranean protection "just one component" of survivability planning.

Quick take

This is less about tunnels than about priorities. Interceptors run out; buried, dispersed or hardened assets don't need one fired at every incoming threat. Katz's point, that survivability deserves the same attention as lethality, is worth sitting with as drone swarms get cheaper and interceptor stockpiles get tighter.

Read the full story: military.com