Noah on CUAS
"I shouldn't be screaming into the void expecting something of a unified effort, a national push, especially when we all recognize the vulnerabilities.
Here's an article from yesterday about recent incursions over American facilities. Here's another for you. Here's the
UK,
France,
Belgium,
the Baltics, and
Denmark, just for good measure.
We would be foolish to assume the same isn't actively happening here. We would be foolish to assume that any part of our geography or location will keep us or critical assets safe from potential asymmetric attacks.
If you think something like Operation Spiderweb couldn't happen here, where cheap, crude uncrewed systems integrated with basic artificial identification and targeting couldn't, say, target a facility like Cold Lake? Or Halifax? Or Trenton? Hell, what about critical assets like the future Arctic Over-the-Horizon Radar systems?
Then I'm sorry, but you're playing a very stupid game, a game that has proven to cost those who don't play it seriously dearly. What will you do then? What would you do if a key part of our continental radar network is taken out by a cheap drone launched out of the back of a semi?
"What would you do?" is an easy question to ask, and you can supplement it for anything: any platform, capability, facility, or critical piece of infrastructure. Then remember that we have almost no way to protect ourselves, not while the ongoing CUAS initiative continues to sit in identification, not while we continue to endlessly study and discuss what we need.
And if I sound a bit dramatic? That's entirely because the concept terrifies me. It scares me when I talk to people about it, to understand how vulnerable you are, to know how little you have to stop it. To remember that it only takes one or two lucky little fucks to cripple us in ways we couldn't imagine.
That's why I take this so seriously. That's why I push for aggression. That's why this whole debate frustrates me, because we know there is a path forward. We know the assets and capabilities we have. We know the industry we have. We know we could be doing something now, anything.
And that's another thing in all this. It isn't just about having the systems in place. It isn't just about the right equipment. It's about having the right mentalities in place who are willing to accept that reality, and are ready to tackle it in the aggressive manner that the situation demands of them.
It's about having the contingencies in place for if the worst comes to pass. It is about having the proper facilities, like hardened shelters, in place domestically to ensure that we have available as many layers of protection as possible for our future fleets, even if some might call it silly. It is about having the proper training infrastructure in place so people can develop the experience and skill sets they need to operate in a drone-dense environment. That is especially important to me as we start talking about the future Base Security trade.
Opinion
www.truenorthstrategicreview.ca
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The real frightener?
If it was accepted that the domestic UAS threat was real and that it demanded a legitimate CUAS coverage of our domestic infrastrucure, and our domiciles, it would rapidly consume our entire defence budget and leave nothing for expeditions.
www.raf.mod.uk
