Saudi Arabia Getting Whacked With the Drone-Shaped Clue Bat

Will Saudi Arabia rulers react to the reality that the Palestinians are more than happy to die for mullah-run Shia Iran? 

I think this is right:

Saudi Arabia’s future depends on dropping its commitment to Palestine[.]

All Saudi Arabia has gotten is the Palestinians siding with Shia Iran whose proxy network is eagerly attacking Saudi Arabia with drones and missiles.

Face it, the Arab Street that comes out in favor of the Palestinians is the dog that did not bark in the night these days. It is time to  deny the Palestinians the title of Queen of the Victim Prom.

The Saudis could start with a radical path to delegitimizing the murderous fanatics and rewarding those who would build Palestinian prosperity rather than rejoice in swirling their hands in the blood of dead Israelis. 

Deny Palestinians the hope of killing all the Jews from the river to the sea and maybe they will settle for a more reasonable peace deal.

NOTE: TDR Winter War of 2022 coverage continues here.

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NOTE: Photo from the article.

The Tyranny of Distance is Followed By the Tyranny of the Shores

Sea control is vital for American national security. But the ultimate purpose of controlling the seas is making sure Eurasian resources are not mobilized by enemies to threaten America. 

From the “Well, Duh” files: 

American soldiers’ ability to wage war in Europe and the Pacific is undermined by extreme distance from potential battlefields and shortages at key overseas headquarters, according to a new report.

Sea control is crucial. But it is crucial for projecting land power ashore.

NOTE: TDR Winter War of 2022 coverage continues here.

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Never Waste a Clusterf**k of Crises

I'm reasonably sure that the European Union (EU) gray, autocratic bureaucrats see opportunities in their many crises.

So the EU is heading into a "perfect political storm"? 

The EU is already struggling with how to get its largest-ever budget agreed, plug a massive financial hole for Ukraine and navigate geopolitical pressure from the U.S. and China. Now, it also faces being paralyzed by domestic political strife in the countries that collectively make up around 60% of its GDP and population. 

Yeah, "perfect" as in perfect excuses to expand EU political authority to chip away a little more at the prefix in their proto-imperial union.

NOTE: TDR Winter War of 2022 coverage continues here.

NOTE: You may also like to read my posts on Substack, at The Dignified Rant: Evolved. Go ahead and subscribe to it. It's the right thing to do!

NOTE: Image from the article.

Protect the Cargo Ships With Navy in a Box

Russia is leaning forward to attack shipping in the Black Sea in NATO state exclusive economic zones, and more ominously in their territorial waters. NATO should loan defensive systems to cargo and tanker ships that NATO forces ashore control while the ships are in the Black Sea.

NATO seems like it will respond to Russia's attempt to intimidate NATO over support for Ukraine:

Russian drones are suspected of sinking a cargo ship and leaving chemical tankers ablaze near the Black Sea coasts of Bulgaria and Romania, respectively. The latest attacks mean that at least seven ships have been attacked in the exclusive economic zones of NATO member countries—and even within Romania’s territorial waters if Russian involvement is confirmed in the case of the chemical tankers.

Such attacks have spurred requests for NATO to redeploy counter-drone systems to provide more protection. In a social media post on October 15, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte stated that NATO had increased “counter-drone capabilities” along the alliance’s eastern flank after meeting with the leaders of Bulgaria and Romania.

I suggest Navy in a Box that would put NATO-controlled systems on the decks of civilian ships while in the Black Sea. Perhaps NATO A-Whacks patrolling would be a good idea, too.

Still, don't panic. In a shooting war the Russian Black Sea fleet would lead a short but exciting life. 

And of course, improve Ukraine's combat capabilities given that Russia strikes to deter that kind of NATO help.

NOTE: TDR Winter War of 2022 coverage continues here.

NOTE: You may also like to read my posts on Substack, at The Dignified Rant: Evolved. Go ahead and subscribe to it. It's the right thing to do!

NOTE: Image from the article (Credit: Hristo Rusev/Getty Images)

Here Be Dragons

Seafarers once saw sea monsters in the mists, which made sailing beyond sight of the coast a scary prospect. The sea monsters are coming back.

The sea is massive but the infrastructure of commerce over the seas is relatively small and quite vulnerable:

Pipelines and undersea communication cables are vulnerable to relatively simple types of disruptive and destructive sabotage. Unfortunately, most seaports face similar threats.

Add in the choke points for sea commerce and you have the battlefield defined for a global fight for the seas with sea drones battling each other to protect or degrade pipelines, cables, and sea traffic through choke points.

How do navies adapt to that? How do economies?

NOTE: TDR Winter War of 2022 coverage continues here.

NOTE: You may also like to read my posts on Substack, at The Dignified Rant: Evolved. Go ahead and subscribe to it. It's the right thing to do!

NOTE: Image from the second link.

The Winter War of 2022 Prepares to Turn Against China

 

I’m connecting dots to see a picture I’ve long wanted to see and which I think makes sense for America and Russia, not to mention Ukraine and the rest of Europe as well as America’s allies near China, which will have to devote more military resources inland. My wish to see such a picture could be the fatal weakness in dot-connecting skills. Yet while my picture rejects the common view that Trump is betraying Ukraine, that common view may actually help complete this picture by enabling Putin to claim Trump has Russia’s back if Putin ends his war on Ukraine. Then Putin could quietly pivot east to confront China and its claims on large and important portions of Russia’s Far East on the Sea of Japan.

Head on over to Substack for the essay. But you can always get the link here on TDR.

NOTE: ISW updates continue here.

NOTE: Also, I put war-related links and commentary in the Weekend Data Dump on Substack. You may read my posts on Substack, at The Dignified Rant: Evolved.

Weekend Data Dump

The Weekend Data Dump is a compilation of short entries about the previous week’s defense and national security news that I found interesting. I couldn’t possibly comment on everything in my news flow or delve into everything that interests me. So most news that interests me doesn’t make the cut for a post. The rest go in the data dump. Enjoy!

HOP ON OVER AND READ IT! On the bright side, you can comment on Substack!

In case you missed it on Substack: The Risk of Forward Defense

In case you missed it on Substack: Sea Control

In case you missed it on Substack: AI, the Cause of and Solution to Our Future Battlefield Problems

In case you missed it on Substack: Protecting Obstacle Reduction

Help me out by subscribing on Substack and by liking and sharing posts. I occasionally post short data dump-type items (or not-so-short) on my Substack "Notes" section.

Four American Corps to Test Drone Warfare Concepts

Drone defense can't be based solely on vehicles or other targets. To restore operational movement, a corps must be able to orchestrate drones and counter-drones systems and other assets to gain an information advantage over the enemy to get the brigades moving and through the enemy kill zone. Patton achieved that in the hedgerow slog in Normandy.

Four U.S. Army corps withe tailored "autonomy formations" will test various aspects of drone warfare:

Several new Army formations will focus on autonomous warfare as the service continues its push to adopt battlefield drones.

Each corps will test equipment, evaluate tactics and recommend ways to carry out autonomous missions across long-range fires, protection, tanks, logistics and obstacle breaching, the service said. The new autonomy formations include a fires battery and watercraft company in I Corps, an armored reconnaissance company in III Corps, a breaching company in V Corps, and aerial reconnaissance and lift companies in XVIII Airborne Corps. 

I am sure that testing will show that many types of drones are useful for reducing the risk to soldiers near the front line (which extends quite a bit behind the forward line of troops). But I also suspect that testing will show that LINK small UGVs are not useful as general purpose direct-fire combat vehicles.

Hopefully the Army can restore operational maneuver from positional warfare:

Patton derived his success in large-scale combat operations on the continent from his dynamic approach to warfare and his special units, purpose-built to aid Third Army in managing information. Specifically, Patton strove to generate what twenty-first-century U.S. concepts define as information advantage, “a condition when a force holds the initiative in terms of relevant actor behavior, situational understanding, and decision making.”

How will drones affect that? And how can counter-measures negate enemy drones?

NOTE: TDR Winter War of 2022 coverage continues here.

NOTE: You may also like to read my posts on Substack, at The Dignified Rant: Evolved. Go ahead and subscribe to it. It's the right thing to do!

NOTE: Map from second link.