May 08, 2026
Numbers Matter
Among the many lessons of Ukraine and the Iran war is the role of small, distributed air and missile defenses, whether using — or defending against — missiles or drones. Dr. Stacie Pettyjohn, Director of the Defense Program at the Center for a New American Security, details how effective small weapons can be, whether massed drones could undermine U.S. operational concepts, the implications of using big weapons to counter little ones, and many more insights.
Listen to the full interview on the Defense & Aerospace Air Power Podcast.
More from CNAS
-
Sharper | Securing America’s Defense Industrial Base
Six months of war with Iran has depleted America’s munitions capacity, leaving stockpiles of interceptors and precision weapons dangerously low and demand above the replacemen...
By Cadence Barker & Charles Horn
-
Bloomberg Economics' Becca Wasser and Dina Esfandiary Talk Iran Conflict
With President Trump set to meet Gulf leaders on the sidelines of this week’s UN meetings, the Iran war is likely to take center stage. Houthi attacks in Saudi Arabia and risi...
By Becca Wasser
-
Big Take: The Real Costs of the U.S. Iran Blockade
On today's Big Take podcast, Bloomberg Global Defense Editor Gerry Doyle and Bloomberg Economics Defense Lead and adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Securi...
By Becca Wasser
-
Drones, Missiles, and the U.S. Munitions Shortage
Executive Summary Drones have exploded in popularity since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. There is a growing view that inexpensive drones—“affordable mass”—a...
By Philip Sheers & Stacie Pettyjohn