Comment by empath75

> This is all predicated on creating thousands of drones which is a state actor level threat.

You can do a tremendous amount of damage with off the shelf consumer drones, and a minimal budget. Ukraine did an billions of dollars of damage to Russia's airfleet with a couple million dollars of drones hidden in trucks. Well in the range of cartels and terrorist groups.

> The first line of defense at this level should be diplomacy.

You are very much correct that the way to not get into this situation is to not start a war.