February 26, 2026
How to Adapt in an Era of Algorithm Warfare
This article was originally published in Foreign Policy.
In the past, only major powers with billion-dollar budgets could strike a target with precision from a distance. Today, commercial technology has democratized precision strikes. A soldier can hunker down in a trench with a simple controller and, streaming video through a pair of goggles, steer a commercial drone with a $500 payload to disable or destroy a $5 million tank.
The barrier to entry for sophisticated, high-impact warfare is collapsing with the global availability of cheap, powerful, and adaptable commercial technology.
Such technology has reshaped modern warfare in recent years, making it easier and cheaper to attack and more difficult and expensive to defend. Soldiers now drop grenades from store-bought drones, commercial satellites sustain military communications, and radios popular with hobbyists can be used for drone detection and even signal jamming.
Read the full article in Foreign Policy.
More from CNAS
-
Hellscape for Taiwan
Reports
Executive Summary The question of how Taiwan can effectively deter and, if necessary, defeat a Chinese invasion has become increasingly urgent. For the past two decades, Taiwa...
By Stacie Pettyjohn & Molly Campbell
-
Our Defense Industrial Base—We Get What We Pay For
Commentary
Introduction Over the last few years, there have been several attempts to address perceived shortcomings in the industrial base that supports the Department of Defense (DoD). ...
By Frank Kendall
-
Trump’s Caribbean Surge Nears $3 Billion Price Tag So Far
Commentary
This article was originally published in Bloomberg. When US forces captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, early in the new year, the Trump a...
By Becca Wasser
-
CNAS Insights | America Isn’t Ready for a Drone War
Commentary
This week, U.S. personnel near El Paso, Texas, tested a high-energy laser as part of their mission to shoot down cartel drones along the southern border. The resulting confusi...
By Stacie Pettyjohn & Molly Campbell
