Amid conflicts in Ukraine, Israel, and the Red Sea, million-dollar missiles are regularly intercepting cheap commercial drones. This reveals a growing trend in tactical warfare: It’s cheap to attack and expensive to defend. Militaries are seeking ways to tip the economic calculus back in the defender's favor, says RAND Europe’s James Black. For example, they’re expanding electronic warfare capabilities and experimenting with high-powered lasers and microwave weapons. But ultimately, there’s no silver-bullet solution, Black says. “The United States and Europe must work together urgently to build a broader toolkit of defensive options.”

The Taliban's reconquest of Afghanistan following the U.S. military's withdrawal in 2021 led to serious concerns for India. New Delhi no longer had a friendly Afghan government in place, and its top rivals, China and Pakistan, have since been trying to fill the power vacuum. For these reasons and others, India has been quietly reestablishing and elevating ties with the Taliban. Writing in Nikkei Asia, RAND's Derek Grossman says it's unclear whether this approach has paid off yet, but the strategy “makes good sense because it gives India a fighting chance to succeed with Afghanistan.”