Drone Warfare Could Bring Conflict to Europe’s Doorstep
The Spectator warns that future drone wars could bring repeated attacks directly to European cities, infrastructure and private homes.
The widespread use of drones and missiles is changing the very nature of future wars and stripping Europeans of their familiar distance from armed conflict. The Spectator columnist Matthew Parris argues that the main threat to Europe is no longer a conventional ground invasion, but continuous drone strikes on cities, homes and infrastructure.
In his view, technological distance creates a false sense of security in Western society. European countries watch armed conflicts from the sidelines, as though separated from them by protective glass. Footage of missile strikes and drone attacks is perceived as something remote and unrelated to the daily lives of viewers.
That illusion could disappear the moment war reaches their own homes. Parris refers to a Ukrainian drone operator with the call sign Panama, who said people would see events very differently once they felt war at their own doorstep rather than only watching it on television.
The author predicts that future armed conflicts will be prolonged and virtually continuous. Instead of launching a large-scale ground offensive, hostile states will be able to conduct remote strikes for years, disable infrastructure and maintain constant pressure on enemy territory.
According to Parris, such wars will resemble a prolonged terrorist insurgency. Drones will allow attacks to be carried out from a distance without direct confrontation, while destroying individual devices will not eliminate the source of the threat. He compared such an enemy to a swarm of hornets: individual targets can be destroyed, but wiping out their nests completely will be extremely difficult.
The columnist concluded that remote warfare works both ways. The fires and destruction Western countries now watch on television could eventually appear on the streets of European cities and at the doors of private homes.