New methods of sneaky attacking

[agoodwinsmith]

I am talking about things I have no business talking about because I do not make a study of military methods and tactics, so I will have that wide-eyed complete lack of understanding of the basics.  But I can't stop thinking about it, so I need to write about it to work through the obsessive dwelling.

The reason I think the detonation of pagers and walkie-talkies happened so close together is because they are one trick pony methods.  No one will be able to do that again.  Anybody getting anything new is going to take the items apart and clean out novelty additions.  Second hand items, too.  People will probably be going back in shipments, too.

Drones were a game changer in Ukraine, very exciting and successful - I wish our main media had spent more time celebrating that - although, the apathy probably lead to undervaluing by opponents.  Now, if I were getting any new bits, I would be checking them for additions.  Certainly these aren't going to be used simultaneously, but many drones get sent simultaneously to many sets of troups, so using the drones to shock with wounds and supply chain betrayal might be desirable enough.

I have wondered whether those sending bombs into areas protected by extreme anti-bomb coverage might not start including some drones with poison payloads.  Exploding them in the air just spreads the foul agent further.

I am boggled by the information that both Ukraine and Russia have been using drones with long electrical cords (a number of kilometers, apparently).  The advantage is that no one can eavesdrop on the missing wireless commands.  This seems super impractical - but I guess it only has to work once or twice for the surprise factor to instill fear in the enemy.

If one is going to stash explosives in random items, I suppose a logical choice would be the replacement transformers and whatnot for electrical station repairs.  Even if there's nothing there, if the items have been handled in a way that it is possible something has been stashed, then it slows down repairs while people check.

Well.  I still don't know what to think.  It seems like we've entered a new season in sneaky fighting.

Comments

[agoodwinsmith]

Considering that some of the well-protected actors are skirting very close, possibly crossing, the borders of the rules already, I suspect eventually someone won't care. It's also something an independent actor could do without permission or knowledge.

That is interesting about the bolt problem. Every step of that chain needs to be in the control of actors who can be found easily. Which means there are lots of areas open to meddling. So disheartening/exhausting.

The wires thing still makes me doubtful - it's just not practical enough. Maybe in a city where the drone flies high between buildings, or maybe out in an open field - but even so. Two drones dragging wires will snag each other up pretty uselessly.

[armiphlage]

For the wires, the trick is to do the same as wire-guided torpedoes or wire-guided missiles: you have a reel of wire on the drone rotating and expelling wire at the exact same speed as the object. The drone isn't pulling the wire through the air, it's dropping wire behind it to drift gently down to the ground. There's no tension on the wire, and no forces acting on it other than gravity and air resistance. If two drones cross paths, you'll just have two wires lying across each other on the ground.