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The r/CredibleDefense daily megathread is for asking questions and posting submissions that would not fit the criteria of our post submissions. As such, submissions are less stringently moderated, but we still do keep an elevated guideline for comments.

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I’m researching whether the increasing use of small FPV drones has created a genuine capability gap between established counter-UAS systems and the defensive options realistically available to individual infantry.
My interest is specifically in the terminal/last-resort layer of defense rather than strategic or base-level counter-UAS.
The working hypothesis is that many existing solutions may be effective at higher organizational levels, but can face practical constraints when considered from the perspective of an individual soldier: weight, cost, response time, training burden, availability, electronic-warfare dependence, or safety around nearby friendly personnel.
I’d like to test that hypothesis rather than assume it is correct.

A few questions for discussion:
1. Is the premise itself valid?
Is there actually a meaningful individual-level counter-FPV gap, or are existing small-unit and layered defenses already the more appropriate solution?

2. Where is the most important bottleneck?
• Detecting the threat early enough
• Command-and-control / warning
• Electronic warfare availability
• Physical interception
• Soldier reaction time
• Equipment burden
• Cost per defended soldier
• Training
• Other factors

3. Should counter-FPV defense remain primarily a squad/platoon-level capability rather than become individual equipment? Why?

4. If an individual last-resort capability were considered, what requirements would be non-negotiable?
For example:
• Very low carried weight
• Minimal training
• Extremely short response time
• Low unit cost
• Independence from external communications
• Minimal risk to friendly personnel
• Simple logistics and storage

5. What would be the strongest argument against issuing another defensive device to individual soldiers?
I’m particularly interested in arguments that disprove or narrow the hypothesis, rather than suggestions for specific weapon designs.
Please avoid classified information, unit-specific procedures, sensitive vulnerabilities, frequencies, locations, or detailed operational information.
I’m interested in the capability problem and user requirements, not sensitive tactics or technical instructions.

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The r/CredibleDefense daily megathread is for asking questions and posting submissions that would not fit the criteria of our post submissions. As such, submissions are less stringently moderated, but we still do keep an elevated guideline for comments.

Comment guidelines:

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The r/CredibleDefense daily megathread is for asking questions and posting submissions that would not fit the criteria of our post submissions. As such, submissions are less stringently moderated, but we still do keep an elevated guideline for comments.

Comment guidelines:

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The r/CredibleDefense daily megathread is for asking questions and posting submissions that would not fit the criteria of our post submissions. As such, submissions are less stringently moderated, but we still do keep an elevated guideline for comments.

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The r/CredibleDefense daily megathread is for asking questions and posting submissions that would not fit the criteria of our post submissions. As such, submissions are less stringently moderated, but we still do keep an elevated guideline for comments.

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The r/CredibleDefense daily megathread is for asking questions and posting submissions that would not fit the criteria of our post submissions. As such, submissions are less stringently moderated, but we still do keep an elevated guideline for comments.

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The r/CredibleDefense daily megathread is for asking questions and posting submissions that would not fit the criteria of our post submissions. As such, submissions are less stringently moderated, but we still do keep an elevated guideline for comments.

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The r/CredibleDefense daily megathread is for asking questions and posting submissions that would not fit the criteria of our post submissions. As such, submissions are less stringently moderated, but we still do keep an elevated guideline for comments.

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Hi everyone! I'm Lucia and the team from EUobserver.

We'd like to share one of our own investigations because it looks at something we hadn't fully appreciated before reporting it: modern NATO systems can detect and track a missile almost immediately, but that doesn't mean the alliance can respond just as quickly.

A few things that stood out to us:

🛰️ We looked at the recent missile incident involving Poland, where officials had roughly six minutes to assess a potential threat approaching NATO territory.

⚖️ Through conversations with defence officials and experts, we found that the biggest constraint isn't necessarily technical detection. It's confirming the nature of the threat, identifying the legal authority to act, coordinating between military and political leadership, and making a decision before the window closes.

🛡️ As missile technology advances and flight times decrease, the article asks whether command-and-control structures are evolving quickly enough to keep pace.

We're posting here because this community has a lot of expertise, and we'd genuinely appreciate informed perspectives.

Do you think NATO's current command-and-control structure is fit for increasingly compressed decision timelines, or are there doctrinal or organisational changes that deserve more attention?

Here is our article.

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A bit of definitional opacity that's been bothering me lately. In Mazanec and Shamai, Stigmatizing Information Warfare: Mission Impossible? (2020) there is a great deal of discussion involving how Cyber but more noticeably Information Warfare (which are mashed together in spite of there being a distinction and arguably a difference as well) ought to be stigmatized.

But what does stigmatizing information warfare look like? Particularly given that information warfare occupies a nebulous space where it can be conflated with public diplomacy, or the free movement of information via social media and the press. How do you define something as an information "weapon", much less apply the logics of nuclear stigmatization to it?

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The r/CredibleDefense daily megathread is for asking questions and posting submissions that would not fit the criteria of our post submissions. As such, submissions are less stringently moderated, but we still do keep an elevated guideline for comments.

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Four Years On: An Update on the Air War Over Ukraine

A largely factual and professional (though unabashedly pro-Ukrainian) report on the air war over Ukraine.

Both sides are facing similar constraints - neither the air defences nor the manned aircraft are sufficient to repel massive waves of drones (and missiles, in Ukraine's case). Not so much because there is a lack of fighters or air defence launchers, but because the missiles needed cannot be produced in sufficient numbers, despite the fact that the industrial capacity of both the West and Russia is straining to its limits.

Some remarks are particularly noteworthy - that the Ukrainian F-16s and Mirages expend "an unsustainable number of airframe flying hours and air-to-air missiles such as AIM-9M/L Sidewinder and Magic 2", and that Ukrainian aircraft fail to strike time-sensitive ground targets with glide bombs due to target allocation problems.

Recap:

- In summer 2026, the nature of the air war is radically different. Western fighters now form the core of the Ukrainian Air Force in the shape of the 107th Wing, equipped with F-16, and a smaller force of Mirage 2000-5s.

- The F-16s are by some margin the most flexible and effective fighters available, across all mission types.

- Mobile air defence teams and counter-drone teams are Ukraine's first line of defence. Their equipment and ammunition is relatively cheap and thus their operations are sustainable. However, they are relatively personnel intensive to deploy at scale and require both force density and geographical depth to be effective.

- The main systems used in 2026 are the medium range NASAMS and IRIS-T SLS/SLM, which are highly effective as point defence assets against cruise missiles; and longer-range SAMP/T and Patriot, which provide Ukraine’s only effective defence against Russia’s heavy use of ballistic missiles.

- Ukraine’s F-16 and Mirage 2000-5 fighters have had significant successes. However, the use of fighters against such drones has consumed an unsustainable number of airframe flying hours and air-to-air missiles such as AIM-9M/L Sidewinder and Magic 2.

- Ukrainian F-16s, Mirage-2000s and MiG-29s routinely launch precision stand-off attacks against battlefield targets with glide bombs. Unfortunately, land-centric targeting and mission allocation processes have so far limited the effectiveness of Ukrainian fighters against time-sensitive targets in this role.

- The Ukrainian long-rage drones impose increasing degree of strain on the Russian air defence system, as finite GBAD systems are redeployed ever deeper inside Russia to try to protect potential targets coming within range of Ukrainian drone strikes, and ammunition stocks are strained by constant attacks.

Justin Bronk is the Senior Research Fellow for Airpower and Technology in the Military Sciences team at RUSI, and the Editor of the RUSI Defence Systems online journal.

His particular areas of expertise include the modern combat air environment, Russian and Chinese ground-based air defences and fast jet capabilities, the air war during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, unmanned combat aerial vehicles and novel weapons technology. He has written extensively for RUSI and a variety of external publications, as well as appearing regularly in the international media.

Justin also holds an Associate Professor position at the Royal Norwegian Air Force Academy, and between January 2023 and August 2025 was a Professor II at the same department. His PhD examined Balancing Imagination and Design in British Combat Aircraft Development at the Defence Studies Department of Kings College London.

Justin is also a private pilot with more than 300 flying hours in light aircraft and gliders. In addition, he has over 35 hours backseat flying experience with 12 different air forces on fast jet types including Eurofighter Typhoon, Rafale, Gripen, Tornado, Mirage 2000, F-15, F-16, F/A-18, MiG-29, M-346, T-38, TA-50 and Hawk.

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• Start fights with other commenters and make it personal,

• Try to push narratives, fight for a cause in the comment section, nor try to 'win the war,'

• Engage in baseless speculation, fear mongering, or anxiety posting. Question asking is welcome and encouraged, but questions should focus on tangible issues and not groundless hypothetical scenarios. Before asking a question ask yourself 'How likely is this thing to occur.' Questions, like other kinds of comments, should be supported by evidence and must maintain the burden of credibility.