The frontline in modern warfare, like in Ukraine, is no longer a few kilometers wide. Pervasive drone surveillance and attacks have created vast 'no-man's zones' up to 30km wide where any visible movement is immediately eliminated. This strategic shift is forcing the development of larger, longer-range FPV drones.

The rise of inexpensive, attributable drones has fundamentally altered modern warfare. A small swarm can overwhelm a multi-billion-dollar destroyer's defenses, making it nearly impossible for traditional naval superpowers to project force and keep strategic waterways like the Strait of Hormuz open.

Military lessons from one conflict are not a universal blueprint. The small, disposable drones effective in Ukraine are ill-suited for the vast distances of the Pacific. Geography powerfully shapes the required capabilities, meaning a drone for a conflict with China must be larger, more expensive, and less disposable, creating a completely different strategic calculus.

The conflict in Ukraine demonstrates that modern warfare is rapidly changing due to AI, which enables fast, iterative development of low-cost drones. Investing in swarms of intelligent drones is now more strategically important than traditional, expensive military assets like aircraft carriers.

Radio-frequency control links inevitably break when drones fly long distances or dive below the canopy into heavy jamming environments. Successful strike drones require onboard edge compute running target-recognition models so pilots can designate targets outside electronic warfare bubbles and allow the drone to finish the attack independently.

The conflicts in Ukraine and Iran reveal a paradigm shift in military strategy. Expensive, high-risk assets like B2 bombers are becoming obsolete. The future is asymmetric warfare: swarms of cheap, disposable drones or 'motorcycles with bombs,' where losing most of the units is acceptable if a few reach their target.

The key takeaway from conflicts in Ukraine and Iran is the severe cost imbalance created by drones. Cheap, disposable drones can threaten multi-million dollar assets, forcing a strategic shift toward developing low-cost, mass-produced "attributable weapons" to level the economic playing field.

Modern conflicts demonstrate that victory is achieved through overwhelming swarms of cheap, expendable drones, not traditional, expensive military assets like aircraft carriers. This "iterative warfare" upends conventional military strategy and the global balance of power.

After the Cold War, the Navy prioritized efficiency with a standardized Super Hornet air wing, sacrificing the specialized long-range capabilities of aircraft like the A-6. To counter modern threats, it's now diversifying again, using unmanned aircraft like the MQ-25 refueler and combat drones to restore range and relevance.