A “System of Systems”
Approach to Countering Drones
Examining Recent Operations
from the Middle East to Ukraine
Eric Feely
POLICY NOTES
AUGUST 2023
NO. 139
THE WASHINGTON INSTITUTE FOR NEAR EAST POLICY
S
ince the end of the Cold War, the U.S. military has counted on air
superiority in its conflicts, an expectation reinforced by experiences
in the Persian Gulf, the Balkans, Afghanistan, and Iraq. But in the past
decade, the operational environment has changed with the proliferation of
drones—aka unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs)
1
—among America’s state and
nonstate adversaries. Drones offer a cheap, effective precision-strike
capability, obviating the need for a large, modern air force. Commenting on
this “inflection point” in aerial warfare, then U.S. Central Command head
Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie Jr. testified as follows in April 2021 before a U.S.
congressional committee: “For the first time since the Korean War, we are
operating without complete air superiority...Until we are able to develop and
field a networked capability to detect and defeat [drones], the advantage will
remain with the attacker.”
2
Two Ukraine-owned and
operated Bayraktar TB2
combat drones armed
with MAM-L laser-guided
bombs. Shutterstock
