Even within the unmanned conflict zone, the asymmetrically cheaper wins

Move evidence of sea control succumbing to sea denial

U.S. Navy destroyers have shot down 38 drones and multiple missiles in the Red Sea over the past two months. | U.S. Navy

Yemen’s Tehran-backed Houthi militia, attacking Red Sea shipping (the chokepoint through which ships connect between the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea via the Suez Canal), are using drones costing Iran about $2,000 each, our side estimates.

The US Navy is rather routinely shooting them down with missiles that cost about $2m each.

Not hard work, but not sustainable on cost.

We can chastise ourselves for allowing sea control devolve back into 19th century dangers (piracy-like activity run amok), but this is just further proof that it’s not just a matter of the small, the many, the unmanned, the cheap, and the disposable beating the huge, the few, the manned, and the can’t-risk-losing-em. Now that we’re inside that small-ball game of sea denial, there’s still a practical hierarchy and it is a race to the bottom on cost.

Basically, my cheap is cheaper than your cheap.