President
Joe Biden’s
reactionary “just enough” strategy is inadequate for Ukraine’s defense. Hundreds of Iranian
drones and Russian missiles
descended upon civilian targets in Ukraine this week. The single Patriot battery allocated to Ukraine in the last tranche of U.S. aid, which could be operational in six months with a fully trained crew, will have a minimal impact against this Russian onslaught. Patriots are a superb weapon system to counter Russian cruise missiles and aircraft but will be ineffective against drones launched en masse.
The United States and NATO must develop strategies to go after
Iranian
-made Shahed-136 drones before they take flight. They must also assist Kyiv in building an integrated air defense system, one that enables Ukraine to destroy a greater percentage of inbound missiles and drones. And Ukraine must be empowered to strike launch points, storage facilities, and command and control headquarters beyond its borders. Equally critical, the U.S. and NATO must interdict the delivery of drones before they can be put into operational service.
To emphasize: One Patriot battery will not be nearly enough here, nor is it cost-effective. One line battery in a Patriot battalion consists of six launchers, and each launcher has four missiles, or 24 total. At a cost of $3 million per missile, that’s $72 million dollars, which will only defend a small sector of a battlefield or critical civilian or military infrastructure.
Each Shahed-136 drone, by comparison, costs between $20,000 and $60,000 dollars. Ukraine cannot afford to wait for them to be airborne to destroy them. Nonkinetic approaches capable of jamming navigational systems used to guide drones and missiles to targets are a viable option as well. Ukraine also needs alternative air defense capabilities against cruise missiles, including additional shoulder-fired man-portable air defense systems, the Norwegian National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System, and the Israeli Iron Dome.
Attacking drone and missile site launch points would be the best solution. However, the
Russians
have adapted to the High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS, risk and moved their vital military assets beyond the U.S.-imposed munitions’ 50-mile range limit. This defensive countermeasure is similar to when the U.S. permitted the North Vietnamese to transverse Laos and Cambodia unopposed to position forces to fight in South Vietnam. Equipping Ukraine with advanced fighter bombers would also help eliminate this void.
Put simply, Russian forces must be made vulnerable everywhere they threaten Ukraine. Mr. President, take the gloves off. Neither Ukraine nor Russia is invested in a tie. It is time to follow your own mantra and “get on the right side of history.”
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Jonathan Sweet, a retired Army colonel, served 30 years as a military intelligence officer. Follow him on Twitter
@JESweet2022
.
Mark Toth is a retired economist, historian, and entrepreneur who has worked in banking, insurance, publishing, and global commerce. Follow him on Twitter
@MCTothSTL
.
