Like countless other hostilities, the stealthy Israeli missile and drone strike on Iran doesn’t risk war. It is war.

But this, in fact, is what actual war looks like these days: Sometimes it’s a volley of 300 missiles and drones, and sometimes it is lean, targeted, and carried out covertly. Gone are the days of vast conquering armies and conventional military confrontations between two parties. So long as experts, the government, and the media worry only about a kind of war that is obsolete, it cannot see the war right in front of our faces.

Great article on the evolving face of warfare and how, as long-range and unmanned systems replace on-the-ground and manned conflict, people are assuaged into treating missiles and bombs being lobbed between countries as something “other” than war.

  •  SrTobi   ( @SrTobi@feddit.de ) 
    6•28 days ago

    Drones have extreme effect on the Ukrainian battle field as there is no secrecy anymore. Every inch of the front and the hinterland is permanently watched by both sides via drones. But yeah you are right the actual advancement is still made on the ground

    •  flatbield   ( @furrowsofar@beehaw.org ) English
      1•27 days ago

      Drones are important sure. I am not sure how important. It is no surprise that Ukraine cannot do large scale combined arms maneuver warfare though. Neither Ukraine or Russia is trained in that and Ukraine does not have conventional air support to a large extent. I would not attribute it entirely to drones.

    •  Kissaki   ( @Kissaki@beehaw.org ) English
      1•27 days ago

      Every inch of the front and the hinterland is permanently watched by both sides via drones.

      Are you seriously claiming there are enough drones to have full surveillance not only over the entire front but also the lands around and far behind it?

      Drones have had and have a significant impact. But they are not that numerous and covering - that’s not feasible nor even physically possible (resources + products + management). There’s no “permanent drone watch”.

      Notably, drones are used for more than just observation. They are used for targeted strikes, dropping shells, or drone-suicide sabotage strikes.

      •  SrTobi   ( @SrTobi@feddit.de ) 
        3•27 days ago

        As far as I understand it the Frontline is pretty saturated with drones. Heard it in a documentary that I cannot find, of course, but a quick search gave this article https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/04/14/ukraine-drones-russia-war-skies/:

        The sheer number of drones means the battlefield is “almost transparent on both sides,” Nepal said, speaking from a makeshift base near the front line filled with parts for FPVs.

        So yes seems to me as if it is a almost 24/7 thing. Maybe not over 100% of the Frontline, but at least in the most of it.

        (I may have overestimated the meaning of hinterland… I meant like the 10km or so behind the front)