Medium Powers and Low-Cost Precision: How Asymmetric Strikes Redefine Modern Warfare |
It is Friday, 27th March 2026. In the early hours of the day, emergency personnel scrambled to tend to the wounded from an attack. The Prince Sultan Air Base was surrounded by fire, and its equipment was damaged. One of them was the E-3G Sentry AWACS, which was also known as the ‘eye in the sky’. This degraded air coordination and exposed the vulnerability of even the most advanced surveillance systems.
Low-Cost Strike Systems and Asymmetric Warfare Doctrine
Medium Powers often cannot match bigger powers in technology, size, and economic strength, so they often rely on asymmetry. Asymmetric warfare allows them to disrupt, rather than dominate. The key is not to outright defeat but to raise the cost of escalation so that opponents rethink whether the wars are worth it.
The key weapons used are drones known as the “poor man’s air force”. These are unmanned systems that are often considered much cheaper than manned systems like fighter jets and tanks. The expensive weapons cost around $2 million, while drones cost less than $20,000. These weapons are used for precision strikes and surveillance.
Missiles are used in saturation of air defences and long-range strikes. By using mass volumes, these weapons target the gaps in defences, which lead to increased hyper alertness and fears of instability. A cheap offence that intimidates and raises the stakes is preferred over an expensive defence.
Use of proxies is often another way to increase influence while not engaging in a direct conflict. By having a network of alliances, it divides the time and resources of great powers, forcing them into wars of attrition. The goal is strategic sabotage by attacking the key economic interests of rivals on chokepoints, by targeting infrastructure like oil refineries and transportation that enable connectivity. With logistical dilemmas created by these attacks, nations are forced to deal with rising costs and threats of longer wars.
Cyberattacks and AI systems are also........