Drones para atacar activos militares cr\u00edticos a miles de millas de Ucrania en una misi\u00f3n denominada “Operaci\u00f3n Telara\u00f1a”. Seg\u00fan funcionarios ucranianos, la operaci\u00f3n involucr\u00f3\u00a0m\u00e1s de 100 peque\u00f1os drones cuadric\u00f3pteros Osa de fabricaci\u00f3n ucraniana\u00a0, cada uno con cuatro h\u00e9lices giratorias y que transportaban aproximadamente siete libras de explosivos. Dado su\u00a0alcance relativamente corto\u00a0(unos 15 minutos de tiempo de vuelo), estos drones se desplegaron cerca de sus objetivos, ocultos en los compartimentos del techo de m\u00f3dulos\u00a0 cargados en camiones.<\/p>\n
Earlier this month, Ukraine\u2019s security services launched an audacious, multi-pronged drone\u00a0attack<\/a>\u00a0on military airbases deep in Russian territory. The attacks degraded Russia\u2019s military capability, damaging or destroying dozens of bombers, transports, and command and control aircraft, and highlighted how drones are changing the character of armed conflict.<\/p>\n In the early days of the Russia-Ukraine war, Ukraine relied heavily on drones for intelligence gathering, employing remotely piloted aircraft to\u00a0locate and help target enemy troops<\/a>. Russia has launched thousands of\u00a0one-way attack drones<\/a>\u00a0at Ukraine, destroying both civilian and military infrastructure. Both sides have increasingly used first-person view (FPV) drones\u2014small and highly maneuverable platforms with relatively short flight times that transmit live video feed to operators\u2014to attack their rivals. Most first-person view drones target troops and equipment near the frontlines, but Kyiv\u2019s June 1st<\/sup>\u00a0airbase attacks marked a significant shift in the employment of these drones.<\/p>\n Rather than using first-person view drones along the battlefront, the Ukrainian Security Service launched these drones to strike critical military assets thousands of miles from Ukraine in a mission dubbed \u201cOperation Spider\u2019s Web.\u201d According to Ukrainian officials, the operation involved\u00a0more than 100 small Osa quadcopter Ukrainian-made drones<\/a>, each with four rotating propellers and carrying roughly seven pounds of explosives. Given their\u00a0relatively short range<\/a>\u2014about 15 minutes of flying time\u2014these drones were deployed near their targets, hidden in the roof compartments of prefabricated buildings loaded onto trucks. Once the trucks arrived at designated locations near the targeted airfields, the drones were launched and guided to their targets by pilots operating far from the front lines,\u00a0reportedly aided by artificial intelligence systems<\/a>.<\/p>\n Kyiv\u2019s creative use of relatively low-tech and low-cost quadcopters demonstrates how drones can lower the barrier<\/a>\u00a0to obtaining long-range precision strike capabilities that were once the domain solely of advanced military powers. Proliferation of drone technologies and tactics will increase the number of actors\u2014both state and non-state\u2014that can project kinetic power in ways that hold their rivals\u2019 critical military assets at risk.<\/p>\n While analysts and pundits debate the exact number of aircraft destroyed, Ukraine\u2019s attack targeted Tu-22, Tu-95, and Tu-160\u00a0strategic bombers<\/a>\u00a0along with\u00a0A-50 airborne early warning aircraft<\/a>\u2014all platforms that Moscow has employed in its war against Ukraine. Moreover, the coordinated attacks targeted five airbases, some of which were thousands of miles from Ukrainian territory.<\/p>\n What makes Kyiv\u2019s operation notable is not only the destruction of Russian long-range aviation assets, but the innovative way in which Ukraine\u2019s security service carried out the attack. Historically,\u00a0long-range strike operations<\/a>\u00a0involve advanced munitions like stand-off missiles launched by assets that operate beyond the reach of an adversary\u2019s defenses or stealth aircraft that can penetrate an adversary\u2019s air space without detection. Operation Spider\u2019s Web, however, shows that long-range precision strike need not involve high-end military assets. Instead, in line with what political scientist and former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Michael Horowitz refers to as \u201cprecise mass<\/a>,\u201d large numbers of relatively simple first-person view drones launched close to target locations can cause damage akin to that caused by far more complex and expensive advanced munitions. And countries, non-state groups, and even individuals can now achieve that kind of precise attack.<\/p>\n Using relatively low-cost assets to attack more expensive ones that are critical to an adversary\u2019s operations puts the cost-exchange ratio squarely in the attacker\u2019s favor. Moreover, strategic assets like long-range bombers and command and control aircraft rely on specialized production lines and take time to build. When these platforms are no longer in production\u2014as is the case with many Russian bombers\u2014replacing destroyed assets and repairing damaged ones can be especially difficult and time consuming. This can prolong an attack\u2019s effects on the targeted states military capability.<\/p>\n Beyond destroying military equipment, Ukraine\u2019s precision strikes deep in Russian territory almost certainly generated psychological effects in Russia\u2019s military leaders and public. The strikes demonstrate that areas of the homeland far from the frontlines are vulnerable, that the homeland is no longer an impregnable sanctuary.<\/p>\n