June 1, 2025, the sky over the Ukraine-Russia conflict was torn apart by an unprecedented lightning strike. The carefully planned drone raid operation codenamed "Spider Web" struck a heavy blow to multiple deep strategic air force bases in Russia with its astonishing concealment, deception, and destructive effects. This attack, referred to internally by the Russian side as the "Pearl Harbor Incident of Russia," was far from being a simple tactical victory; its core lay in successfully implementing a modern version of the "Trojan Horse" strategy, leading to the "line execution" of Russia's precious strategic bombers. Not only did this action profoundly rewrite the strategic balance on the battlefield between Ukraine and Russia, but it also posed a cruel reality to global military powers: how can the core strategic assets in the rear be defended against such low-cost, highly concealed, systematic penetration strikes?
The "Trojan Horse" characteristic of this attack was reflected throughout the entire process of planning, infiltration, and surprise, interlocking and highly deceptive.
The key lay in utilizing specially modified camouflage trucks as "Trojan carriers." These trucks appeared ordinary on the outside but harbored secrets inside, with specially designed spaces in their top cargo containers secretly housing up to 117 FPV suicide drones. They were akin to Greek soldiers hidden within the wooden horse in ancient times, silently crossing the frontlines and infiltrating to lethal attack positions near the target air force bases under the operation of a covert agent network within Russia. The 18-month preparation period supervised by the highest levels of Ukraine highlighted the extreme demands for intelligence gathering, construction of covert networks, vehicle modification, and route planning.
Once the "Trojan" was in place, the attack erupted instantaneously. The drone swarm surged out from the tops of the trucks, not relying on their own long-range penetration but cleverly utilizing Russia’s domestic civilian telecommunications networks for remote control and end-stage autonomous targeting. This allowed them to bypass the严密 air defense networks guarding the borders or frontline airspace and directly launch attacks from deep within Russia. The clearly targeted goal was the strategically valuable bombers (such as Tu-95, Tu-22M3) parked neatly on the aprons, lacking effective emergency evacuation and hard protection. Social media footage and subsequent satellite images confirmed the devastating scene described as "line execution." The Ukrainian side claimed the total destruction of 41 aircraft worth approximately $7 billion, although some elements of propaganda are present in these claims, the strike on Russia's strategic air-based nuclear forces (especially Tu-95) was undoubtedly strategic in nature.
The success of the "Spider Web" operation was no accident. It precisely struck at the soft underbelly of Russia's strategic defense system and produced far-reaching strategic ripples:
Russia's vast territorial depth, which it relied on to maintain its strategic advantage, became ineffective in the face of "Trojan" style infiltration. The operation proved that Ukraine had the capability to directly and efficiently bring the war to the very heart of Russia's most critical strategic assets, completely overturning the perception of "absolute safety in the rear." This forced Russia to reconfigure its already strained military resources on a large scale for homeland defense, thereby weakening its ability to continue pressuring Ukraine on the front lines.
In the delicate context of peace talks between Ukraine and Russia, this operation injected an unprecedented level of strategic deterrence into Ukraine. It sent a clear signal to the Kremlin: Kyiv could not only resist on the front lines but also cause unbearable losses to Russia's heartland. The comment by Ukrainian security officials that "drones have penetrated deep into enemy territory, this is a turning point" is a footnote to this increase in deterrence. It significantly enhanced Ukraine's bargaining power in future negotiations to secure more favorable terms.
Russian officials likened this attack to the "Pearl Harbor Incident," not only reflecting the pain of military losses (aircraft, pilots, strategic capability losses), but also revealing systemic failures in Russia's intelligence, security, and air defense systems. This inevitably triggered strong public reactions within Russia and severe accountability for the military command structure, forcing the Russian military to undergo profound reflection and potentially costly structural adjustments.
The ultimate question: Who can defend against such a "Trojan Horse" attack?
With small sizes and extremely low radar cross-sections, UAVs are inherently difficult to detect. Hiding them within civilian trucks and using civilian transportation networks for infiltration makes traditional radar-based border and key area air defense systems almost ineffective at long distances. Defenders need to effectively screen and monitor all seemingly harmless civilian vehicles across vast expanses of land, which is nearly impossible to accomplish and extremely costly.
UAVs release from the "Trojan" just before reaching the target, leaving defenders with very short warning and reaction time. Attackers exploited the complacency of target base defenses (dense aircraft parking, insufficient hard protection, close-range防空 blind spots). More crucially, the cost of the attack was extremely low—FPV drones costing thousands of dollars could destroy strategic bombers worth hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars. This extreme cost asymmetry placed defenders in a passive and pressured situation: intercepting expensive surface-to-air missiles to shoot down cheap drones was itself a losing proposition in a war of attrition.
Defenders require nearly perfect anti-penetration capabilities to preemptively discover and prevent the deployment of "Trojan" carriers. This requires a robust domestic intelligence network and public security awareness. In fact, unless citizens have extraordinary security awareness and the country has a powerful counterintelligence network, identification would be nearly impossible.
The success of the "Spider Web" provides textbook examples for all countries and non-state actors globally. It demonstrates that even major powers with advanced technology and comprehensive defense systems are not invincible regarding their core strategic assets in the rear. This raises profound global security dilemmas: all nations will be forced to invest heavily in upgrading air defense and missile defense systems to address this new threat. Additionally, the proliferation of such asymmetric strike methods may make regional conflicts more destructive and unpredictable.
The Ukrainian "Spider Web" operation had far-reaching impacts beyond destroying several aircraft: it fundamentally undermined Russia's strategic confidence, forcing it to reassess its defensive priorities. It gained Ukraine crucial strategic initiative and deterrent leverage in both military and diplomatic terms. Most importantly, it revealed, in an almost "perfect" manner, the feasibility and immense effectiveness of attacking the core strategic nodes of traditional military powers using low-cost commercial technologies, innovative infiltration tactics, and asymmetric warfare thinking.
The ultimate question left by the operation—"Who can defend against such attacks?"—don't laugh at the Russians' incompetence. The answer is exceptionally grim: while defense is possible, the cost is extremely high, requiring nearly flawless intelligence, advanced detection systems covering the entire area, efficient multi-layer interception, and dispersed reinforcement measures. Its essence is a cruel competition of cost and will. Under such low attack costs and highly covert tactics, defenders will remain in a passive and pressured position for the long term. Ultimately, I must say that the true solution still lies with China, because China is not only the source of the cheap drone supply chain but also the nation with the most comprehensive anti-drone technology solutions.
Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7514137946329727528/
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