I’ve read about many instances of Houthi drone attacks and missiles being successfully intercepted by US warships. I have no doubt that these ships are capable of completely neutralizing these types of attacks in a vacuum… but given the cost disparity between the drones/missiles and the defense equipment used to stop them… what’s stopping the opposition from spamming so many at once that the ships can’t keep up?
Instead of repeated, futile attacks, what would happen if the opposition stock piled all of their resources and launched them at once, in waves, one right after the other?
Surely there must be some finite limit to the amount of defensive ammunition (not sure of the right term here) the ships are able to carry at sea.
Is it just a matter of the ships being so well equipped that any force capable of exhausting their supplies is simply impractical- even if the drones are pennies on the dollar in terms of comparative cost?
In: Engineering
It’s always been costlier to counter an attack than to launch it. “What happens if the attack is too big?” is a credible threat. It always will be. The only solution is to either be certain you have overwhelming force, or to be proactive and reduce your opponent’s capabilities until you do.
*But*, there’s a *lot* of defenses on our ships, and it’s going to take your drone a while to get to them. And, if a quadcopter with a surplus frag grenade *does* reach our ship, it’s not a huge deal.
Meanwhile, larger drones are easier to shoot down and considerably more expensive.
Either way, the scenario you describe is possible, but unlikely and I’m sure engineers are working on solving it before it becomes a problem.
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