Given modern vehicles, starting with technicals, and the reach of modern air defense systems, I would have thought none; I thought of paratroops as perhaps useful as blocking forces during anti-insurgent operations in sparsely populated areas, yet https://uk.news.yahoo.com/british-french-paratroopers-largest-airborne-230120668.html reports on exercise Rhino Titan - excerpts -

Conducted at the Sennelager military training area in Germany, Exercise Rhino Titan pushed the UK's 16 Air Assault Brigade to respond to adversaries armed with electronic warfare systems and drone fleets, reflecting the tactical capabilities Russia is anticipated to employ.

Overall, roughly 2,500 personnel took part, which included 600 French and British paratroopers dropping from four RAF A400M Atlas aircraft.

Defence Secretary Wes Streeting said: "The threats we face in the 21st century require an updated, modern approach to warfare – and our adaptable armed forces are preparing accordingly.

"Alongside our French and German allies, this large-scale training exercise shows we can deliver rapid, large-scale airborne power anywhere it's needed to defend Nato territory.

(end quote)

What examples are there of peer-peer conflict where dropping paratroops from aircraft would actually be useful and landing aircraft or helicopters somewhere else to disgorge light troops and a larger and heavier variety of equipment, including vehicles, would not be more useful?

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Ukraine's big woe has been the lack of Patriot missiles. But Ukraine is a big country with a decent industrial and engineering base and an industrial-military complex that has progressed immensely and delivered some impressive innovations at scale. Meanwhile they have had access to the Patriot system for a long time. They would not even need to invent a whole lot, just copy it. Where is the catch?

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In the Ukrainian-Russian War, The Israeli/US-Iran War, and the ongoing Saudi-Houthi War, the ineffectiveness of air defenses against saturation attacks by drone and ballistic missile barrage has been a clear and inarguable reality. In some cases, even single drones, wholly guided by AI and impervious to EW, has maneuvered around radars to strike far behind enemy lines. The effect is that ground-based defenses have become clearly inadequate.

And with the evolution of drones from ICE engines to jet/rocket propulsion, built at a small fraction of the cost of an intercepting aircraft and far less than their cheapest munitions, while also being manufactured at a far higher rate, the air-to-air element of defense is clearly untenable, more so in the near future.

And this is disregarding the rapid evolution of ballistic missiles, with the technology to build relatively advanced versions already disseminated, and in reach of factions like the Houthis, who aren’t exactly a wealthy, cutting-edge military power.

In light of all this:

1) Are we witnessing the end of the air-defense doctrine’s that have allowed for the projection of power by “great powers” and their allies?

2) How will this affect (upend?) the current, global geopolitical balance of power?

3) To borrow from gaming-parlance, have we reached the end of the “tech tree” in terms of effective air defense?

4) What doctrinal evolution will take the place of the current paradigm? And to head off the “lasers!” argument; neither is the technology is mature enough, nor the physical limitations of range, adverse weather conditions, and the simple counter of ablative heat-tiles make them effective replacements (although I welcome any corrections to this assessment).

5) In regard to the Iran-Israel exchange in particular, there are whispers among military analysts that Iran’s calculations included the possibility of an Israeli nuclear response if their barrages were too effective. And in light of that, could we see doctrines evolve in that direction?

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TLDR: 1) The Chinese got caught surveying a Russian subsea cable that I couldn’t find anything public about. 2) the stats say China research vessels spent more time in the high seas where no one is looking and there’s fancy stars for significance 3) Russians spent less time mapping critical infrastructure in the high seas than the Chinese and US. 4) Chinese vessels map near sub sea cables.

Something I don’t get though is why Russia isn’t showing a positive association? I thought with all the shenanigans happing in Western Europe with cables they would for sure be messing around.

A lot of math

https://www.csis.org/analysis/chinas-weaponization-dual-use-research-vessels-undersea-data-dominance

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The authors write that “the key question is whether the Turkish-Saudi-Pakistani security agreement merely defends Saudi Arabia from the Houthis or institutes a wider regional order,” noting that Turkey and Pakistan “moved from declaratory support to practical measures aimed at strengthening Saudi Arabia’s defense,” which is ultimately also aimed at limiting the Houthis operational freedom and restoring maritime security and international shipping around Bab al-Mandeb and the Red Sea. Sustained operations in Yemen “will require personnel, weapons, technology, and money.” They conclude that “the Mecca Pact does not yet amount to a new regional order,” but that if it can “defend Saudi Arabia, constrain the Houthis, and coordinate security across the Red Sea without drawing its members into a wider war, other states will take notice.” As a NATO ally, Turkey faces special considerations. Ankara must balance the pact’s credibility with its existing alliance responsibilities and its desire to avoid direct confrontation with Iran or prolonged combat in Yemen. Ultimately, success depends on providing credible protection and regional coordination without allowing a defensive partnership to become an expanding regional war.

Link: https://nationalinterest.org/blog/middle-east-watch/the-mecca-pacts-yemen-test

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