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> Drones have a limited range and limited capacity to inflict damage.

This drone has greater range than an F-35 and is cheaper to make:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_MQ-28_Ghost_Bat

https://www.boeing.com.au/products-services/defence-space-se...

China’s selling cheap cruise missiles. They come in unmarked shipping containers, so they can reach any target globally, as long as it is within a few hundred miles of a shipping route.

Now, consider how many drones can be manufactured in garages using a shipping container full of components and 3d printer filament.

(Doing it that way means the drone designs improve continuously and with minimal manufacturing lag after tactics shift.)

Ukraine has been launching aerial drones from drone boats for quite a while now - you can look for a video of a black sea drone platform being engaged like that. A lot of the videos of drones hitting AD in Crimea (that usually just show the terminal phase of flight) might have a drone carrier involved in some way.

And a few days ago they unveiled also unmanned interceptor drone launching drone ships, used to hit Russian Shaheed one-way-drones while still over water.

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