Originally published at: USAF Top Brass Calls 'Spider's Web' a 'Wake-up Moment' - AVweb
While defense is paramount, general says not shooting back is not cost-effective.
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The Top Brass responsible for U.S. defense are warning us to wake up. Ukraine’s “Spider’s Web” shows that drones are now a real and effective weapon, and if we’re not ready, they could be used against us, too. At the same time, this operation has only strengthened the resolve of everyday Ukrainians. They’ve gone from slingshots to drones, proving that even a modern Goliath can be challenged.
Slava Ukraini!
Героям слава! Good job.
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MSN?
This is really scary. Ukraine has gone from begging and receiving billions of dollars from the U.S. just a few months ago (remember, “as long as it takes”) to we don’t need stinkin anything from anybody and Ukraine even has the top U.S. military minds scared to death of their capabilities. Somewhat of a turn around in character, wouldn’t you say?
Something is not right here with this Ukraine, drone thing. It does not pass the smell test. This article is exposing the U.S. defense of gross negligence if not outright stupidity.
I spent the last half of my working life in the black hole that is classified programs.
One of the things I learned, that is in the public domain and no one is talking about, the electrical nationwide grid hardware cyber infrastructure comms are all on the public internet. It is incredibly vulnerable to a nationwide cyberattack.
My dream is the Pentagon carves out a block of SIPRNet and maintains it for critical infrastructure such as this.
Yeah, that’s the dream anyway.
In the 70’s I was stationed at a SAC base. Bombers with a nuclear loadout sat on an alert pad which was close to a highway. I had asked and was told that the placement made it easier for the Russkies to count how many bombers we had.
One day someone took a pot shot at one of the bombers from the highway with a rifle. Bullet went through the bomb bay doors, but missed the weapons.
Military intelligence is highly overrated. i.e. intelligence in the military is highly overrated.
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“If all we’re doing is playing defense, and we can’t shoot back, then that’s not a good use of our money.“
Not sure what Gen. Allvin meant with this statement. It sounds like he thinks Golden Dome is only worth the huge expense if it frees us to attack whom we want with impunity. An offensive weapon, then?
There is no such thing as an invulnerable fortress. I spent several years of my career working on the Strategic Defense Initiative. The golden dome is a myth. Part of any good defense is a good offense.
My understanding is that ground based anti-ICBM systems like Aegis Aware are much more practical than the Golden Dome idea, is that about right?
RAF,
This 18 month PR “mission” was a military flop at best. 3 fifty year old TU-95’s damaged, two might be considered destroyed. Of the five bases attacked, only two were damaged, the remaining three no damage at all. Most of this cabin/retractable roof/drone launch failed. The drones that did successfully deploy outside of the five that reached their targets were all shot down. Ukraine has NO ISR capability. It solely depends on US/CIA/Brit’s MI6/Moussad intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance. Zelenskyy led nothing. He just filled his dictatorial duties assigned by Washington to be the “fall” guy after his very brief 15 minutes of stardom taking credit for damage captured by the video reel the western press ran with claiming this highly propagandized, corroborated only by the SBU lap dogs as a sweeping tactical military victory.
The US emperor, who like a teenager with a phone that cannot stay off social media multiple times per day…was totally silent for over three days. Then he makes his phone call to Putin. Unlike Emperor Trump who cannot speak respectfully when addressing world leaders without juvenile, demeaning adjectives when he is “negotiating “ his current/for the moment “deal”… calmly, respectfully, but firmly explained his position, carefully giving the Emperor the final Russian terms.
Of course, the US emperor in chief, who supposedly is the military commander in chief of the US military/CIA/Pentagon/State Department attempted to take NO responsibility for Ukraine’s actions saying…he didn’t know about it? That begs the question… who is actually running our government? To do what Ukraine did, could only be done with US money, US/UK/Israeli ISR, under the cover of US scheduled “peace talks” in Istanbul! Moscow, London, Washington, Berlin, Tel Aviv, and Paris all know who’s been involved. The only question is did our US Emperor know about it in advance?
Emperor Trump is a narcissist who HAS to be CONSTANTLY…the CENTER OF ATTENTION. Under no circumstances will he take a back seat to anyone, let alone to Zelenskyy, Rubio, Hegseth( who claims to have watched this in real time), Lindsey Graham, Tom Cotten, or anyone at the Pentagon/State Department , any EU leader, or Congress. To admit he was clueless is suggesting a leopard can change his spots. Our western press’s deafening silence reporting anything after Sunday was another mile marker of their complicity of western propaganda at Washington’s directions in shielding the Emperor of any responsibility. However, His bombastic, juvenile, embarrassing, lack of integrity, masquerading is Commander in Chief would never allow him to be portrayed as clueless to the world. So, any moment from now moving forward our Emperor will return to his emotional, dis respectful self… and reveal his complicity.
Glory to Ukraine? For what. My heart breaks for all of their collective losses. Zelenskyy with US complete support has murdered Ukraine’s next two generations from ever lifting up, making Ukraine great. Our tax dollars is the sole support of this massacre. Zelenskyy’s body guards are the swastka wearing AZOV battalion. Ukraine’s military is now on the verge of collapse. There is no amount of NATO/EU/US manpower, military, manufacturing, MIC, or money that can bring back 2 million lives, restore Ukraine to any semblance of a country… all because Washington wants to be the global hegemon. The rest of the planet looks at the US out of control rogue nation. Claiming he did not know about this attack on another country’s nuclear arsenal breaking a treaty negotiated two decades ago add’s to this rogue characterization. Or if Trump knew, he takes responsibility for it, he is saying I did this, and I will do likewise to you if you do not submit yourself to US supremacy. Either way…out of control ROGUE. All of this carnage is glorious to and for Ukraine is unfathomable to me. Ukrainian soldiers are fearless, courageous, and patriotic… told like the US citizens… bring participants in anther country’s regime change is “democratic “ and a sign of your patriotism. Ukrainian has paid with everything for that lie. The US citizen has paid for it financially, economically, and politically. Are we so insulated from global reality that we see glee or glory in our complicity in all this? If so, eventually, we will decline to a point where we will be paying with our national treasure.
This is an odd take. I don’t hear Ukraine’s government saying, “we don’t need stinkin anything from anybody”. I hear, “we have our own capabilities, we will use them, we will expand them, but they certainly aren’t enough.”
What I heard before and now is, “Russia is an aggressor, and if they defeat us they will come after others, including NATO countries. Helping Ukraine is in your own self-interest.”
And it’s odd that you think the U.S. military minds are scared of “their” (Ukraine’s) capabilities. Reading between the lines, I think the USAF is scared of US enemies, not allies, adopting these tactics and using them against the U.S.
That’s a curious assessment. What is your source? I look to the Institute for the Study of War for a fact-based assessment. They report,
… Ukrainian and Western officials and open-source analysts continue to clarify the battlefield damage resulting from Ukraine’s “Operation Spider’s Web” long-range drone strike series against Russian air bases on June 1. …
A senior NATO official reported to Ukrainian news outlet Suspilne that Operation Spider’s Web damaged 40 Russian aircraft and confirmed that the operation destroyed 10 to 13 aircraft.…
Source: Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, June 4, 2025, Institute for the Study of War
So, everyone needs to decide for themselves which information sources to trust, but the ones I trust sure don’t describe this operation as a “flop”. “Paradigm-creating success, even if some planes were damaged rather than destroyed” is closer to the mark.
Mark, I have a question. When Putin finally gets around to invading a NATO member, which side will the Ukrainians be on???
If you don’t like the POTUS … that’s your prerogative. When you start spewing your enmity with him in this aviation place via disrespect … I take MAJOR offense at it. STOP !!! Keep that crap to yourself or do it on Facebook.
SO … you were :nine years US Navy." You musta gotten kicked out for being a jerk? And “Mission aviation.” What happened … did a case of bibles get loose and hit you in the head over Africa? OH … “foreign born US citizen.” So THAT’s it … OK … NOW I see where your problem is. A religious fanatic foreign born jerk.
IF you want things to change … run for President yourself, motor mouth.
STOP IT!
A serious, but funny story. You should consider writing a book about SAC from your experiences. It’s really cool stuff, even more so as it’s dropped out of the public consciousness.
C’mon Larry,
Don’t sugarcoat it… tell me how you REALLY feel !
I am not replying to apologize, just clarifying a few of your very descriptive, but slightly inaccurate assumptions. I do appreciate though, your well thought out response overall. A few changes and clarifications as follows:
The topics I have responded to are stories Avweb published relating to drone (aviation) attacks, by a nation, on another nation’s airports ( aviation), claiming significant destruction of a particular nation’s nuclear bomber ( aviation) fleet, parked at five airports (aviation). Therefore…My personal analysis of this aviation oriented event, was on topic…aviation oriented event being discussed on an aviation website.
As pilots (aviation), aircraft mechanics (aviation), airplane owners (aviation)do, we analyze airplane (aviation) accidents, pilot (aviation) responses which can include emotions, health, aeronautical (aviation) decision making, including motivation ( get there itis, for example), and by detailed investigation of background of aircraft, pilot, medical, equipment on board, who and what manufacturer of onboard avionics, use or lack of use of nav aids, and maintenance histories, we come to a rationale plausible, and reasonably accurate probable cause of this particular aviation event. I just added some background history that was intended to provide information that contributes to why this event happened, including asking the question who made these aeronautical decisions to launch said drones against the largest nuclear power outside of the US, against their nuclear bomber fleet, located as per SALT and NUSTART treaties.
Agreed…my description of POTUS should be changed from Emperor in Chief (EC)…to Executive Order Commander in Chief…EOCC.
“ And “Mission aviation.” What happened … did a case of bibles get loose and hit you in the head over Africa? ”…Nope, just modified Cessna 182’s, 206’s, trained pilots and mechanics to fly and maintain them, and assisted in how we can supply parts, food, clothes, medical supplies to people who have been abused, neglected, exploited … for no other reason other than meeting their immediate and potentially, future needs. No strings attached. My wife and my part of this was in assisting in Guyana, Peru, Philippines, and Alaska… no Africa. All our cargo whether human or supplies was secured. Nothing was allowed to “hit my head” domestically or overseas.
Born in East Berlin ( the bad side of the tracks) immigrated as a toddler with my German Mom to Lansing MI with assistance from my GI Dad… that makes me a US citizen…my German Mom went thru the naturalization process and became a US citizen, my first language was German closely followed by English. Still have my passport with my baby picture in it… just in case the EOCC needs validation of my citizenship.
“ OH … “foreign born US citizen.” So THAT’s it … OK … NOW I see where your problem is. A religious fanatic foreign born jerk.” Mostly true…disagree with the term “religious “…I don’t like religions. I prefer spiritually compassionate. I guess I am fanatical regarding human compassion for one another. Yes, I am capable of being a jerk.
“ SO … you were :nine years US Navy." You musta gotten kicked out for being a jerk? No… 4.0 evals entire career…two command advancements…Honor Recruit out of bootcamp (12,000 recruits at the time in Orlando) … I was proud of that ( The Pentagon flew my Mom and Dad on their dime to be at graduation and sat at the Captain’s table after with the base CO during the ceremonies that evening)… Honor Recruit out of my A school ( that gave me my choice of orders)…chose VT-23 out of Kingsville Tx to maintain T2C’s that all naval aviators had to qualify in … including participation of carrier quals aboard ship… backseat qualified in the Buckeye amassing 100+ hours of stick time, including traps and cat shots ( I am not a fully qualified naval aviator but have first hand experience of what it takes to be one)… was offered Blue Angels maintenance, OCS, and flight engineer school on EQ-130’s via the Warrant Officer program to stay in. I got out because I had two small children to raise and all three options would have me all over the planet. As an Air Force lifer largely at Edwards, I am sure you understand living out of a suitcase away from home. Yes, occasionally I was a “jerk” but the Navy still wanted me to stay.
Since you are an AP/IA, and I am only an A&P, you wouldn’t mind looking over my shoulder to sign off my 100 hour inspection of my Bonanza as an annual inspection? And we have another thing in common… Corvettes! We gotta a C5 and a C6. Maybe we can meet for beers at Oshkosh (aviation).
Thanks for your largely accurate, passionate assessment of me.
I was only there for a little over 3 years. Not enough for a book, and I don’t recall many things. B-52s and KC-135s were/are dangerous beasts at the best of times. Then add in the weather at Grand Forks.
I shall leave with another funny, but kind of serious story.
B-52H models back then used TF33 engines - they still do. In cold temperatures they were kind of tempermental to get started. I was in instruments/avionics. Multiple times in a 24 hour period a group of us might have to load up in a step van to support a group of aircraft taking off on a training mission. So there would be several step vans, us in one, engine guys in another and I’m drawing a blank for what shops were in the other vans. But we were all out there in case a squawk would come in before or during engines start - or - when they began to taxi out of the spots, down the flight ramp and out onto the taxiway.
In the winter, new crew chiefs would get a very important OJT lesson. Don’t stand in front of a TF33 during engine start. Occasionally an engine would compressor stall during start. A large ball of partially lit JP4 would belch out of the front of the motor in conjunction with the thump noise. Would knock down the CC. None of them ever got burned though. They would never repeat that mistake again.
your Ukrainian news outlet is completely subservient to Zelenskyy’ and his NAZi /Fascist government.
Wow. A hardcore, aggressive, brutal, and a Kremlin escusing Putinist in our midst.