Comment by SuoDuanDao

This reminds me of the US's program against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan (or at least one fictionalised version of it). Supposedly the pitch for funding involved the cost of a US stinger missile being much less than the cost of a Soviet helicopter. If it's an effective means to force a rivalrous actor to waste money, the fact the decision makers don't care about the money they spend could be a counterattack vector.