Ukraine’s Drone Strike Sends a Sobering Signal to the U.S.

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Ukraine’s Drone Strike Sends a Sobering Signal to the U.S.

 

Ukraine’s recent drone strike on Russian military targets wasn’t just a battlefield victory—it was a wake-up call. While details of the operation remain sparse, what’s clear is that Kyiv pulled off a high-impact mission using relatively low-cost technology. By flying drones across the border to destroy expensive Russian assets, Ukraine showcased not only its ingenuity but also the vulnerability of even the most advanced militaries to unconventional, asymmetric threats.

 

For the United States, the implications are unsettling. If Ukraine could inflict damage on Russia’s strategic forces with improvised drones, it raises uncomfortable questions about America’s own exposure. As military analyst Fred Kagan starkly put it: “Could those have been B-2s at the hands of Iranian drones flying out of containers, let alone Chinese?” The U.S. strategic bomber fleet is a fraction of what it was during the Cold War, and it’s concentrated at a few key bases. Photos circulating online show lines of B-52s parked at Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana—a tempting target in any future conflict.

 

America’s reliance on vulnerable, high-value military assets—fighters, bombers, and aircraft carriers among them—highlights a strategic weakness that adversaries could exploit. This is where former President Trump’s proposed Golden Dome missile-defense initiative, often dismissed in the media as a costly fantasy, deserves reconsideration. While critics focus on its ambitions for space-based interceptors, the real need goes far beyond that. The U.S. faces a diverse and growing array of threats, from ballistic and cruise missiles to drones and surveillance balloons.

 

The bipartisan Strategic Posture Commission warned in 2023 that the U.S. must strengthen its integrated air and missile defenses to guard against “coercive attacks” from peer adversaries. These don’t have to involve nuclear weapons. In a Taiwan crisis, for example, Xi Jinping could threaten to knock out American assets like the F-22s based in Alaska, hinting that any U.S. intervention might come at a steep cost.

 

That’s why missile defense must be layered and multifaceted—combining cutting-edge innovations with proven systems like the Patriot. Israel’s recent success using lasers to shoot down drones shows what’s possible when technological prowess is applied to urgent national defense challenges. Trump was right to prioritize missile defense during his presidency, and his efforts may prove prescient as the security landscape shifts.

 

Yet, as a nation, the U.S. has grown complacent. The Cold War’s sense of strategic vulnerability has faded. A report by Thomas Shugart and Timothy Walton at the Hudson Institute underscores this point. It warns that American airfields, especially in the Western Pacific, are dangerously exposed. The Air Force, for instance, has considered using open-air shelters—“akin to sunshades”—to house the new B-21 bomber. Shugart and Walton criticize this move as perilous: “Not building approximately $30 million hardened aircraft shelters for over-$600 million B-21 bombers is an unwise decision that could endanger the US’s ability to strike globally.”

 

Such infrastructure is often sidelined in defense budgets that prioritize weapons systems over protective measures. But this is shortsighted. Sustained investment is required to ensure true readiness. The $25 billion allocated to Golden Dome in Congress is a start, but a national missile defense architecture can’t be built on one-time infusions. Without a long-term commitment, the system will fall short of what’s needed.

 

This new era demands not only weapons and deterrence but also public awareness. Political leaders should level with Americans about these vulnerabilities instead of repeating the mantra that the U.S. military is the strongest it has ever been. It isn’t. Modern threats have evolved, and so must the national mindset.

 

Ukraine’s drone strike didn’t just destroy Russian bombers—it also delivered a jarring reminder to the United States: in the next war, everyone might be on the front lines. It’s time to stop assuming the oceans will shield America and start preparing for a world in which they no longer do.

 

  Adapted by ASEAN Now from WSJ  2025-06-10

 

 

 

[Tug]

Now a competent administration would be working hard on a fix to the vulnerability don’t have any with the current one.

[Srikcir]

Why the US foreign policy should be not at an economic war with most nations in the world, especially it's allies. 

Instead of adding hundreds of billion dollars to national defence, a few hundred million dollars directed to international DIPLOMCY might better serve the US security. 

But a Golden Dome would be much more authoritarian and manly - MAGA style defense.

[Emdog]

Why just USA? How about  countries that have war aircraft, tanks, infrastructure that is vulnerable.... in other words, all countries?

[dinsdale]

Drone warfare has changed the nature of warfare. Nations will adapt and adjust. Already Russia has built/is building protective hangers/bunkers for it's planes it thought was out of strike range.