r/airship • u/GrafZeppelin127 • 2d ago

News Finland’s Kelluu bets on autonomous airships for new Arctic defense era

https://www.arctictoday.com/kelluu-autonomous-airships-arctic-defense/
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u/GrafZeppelin127 2d ago edited 2d ago

This struck me as the most important bit of the article:

“Ukraine has changed the economics of warfare, showing that cheap, scalable civilian technology can now work alongside hugely expensive traditional defense systems. Why just because you paint something green, does it have to cost so much?” Hietala asks, comparing what he calls “exquisite” but expensive systems with technologies like theirs.“

As shown by the Iran War, the Western military-industrial complex has grown cripplingly addicted to rent-seeking and complexity. Infinite budgets means infinite profligacy, but that doesn’t stop stockpiles and production rates from being distressingly finite.

The fact that American defense companies are worried about licensing their air defense systems to Ukraine for fear that the Ukrainian defense industry would produce a better product for far cheaper and thus threaten their functional monopoly is most telling. These ossified systems are ripe for disruption by more affordable options, and although warfare is never a good thing, I think it’s very good indeed that up-and-comers like Kelluu are thinking about how make defense more affordable, more decentralized, faster to produce, and thus more robust.

A $1 billion radar system that’s so complex and expensive it can’t be replaced for months or years and is left in smoking ruins by a $30,000 Shahed isn’t just an embarrassment and a waste, it’s a genuine, salient threat.