Global Guerrillas

Brief 1: Zero-Day Warfare Is Here

Ukraine's Operation SpiderWeb and Israel's recent attack on Iran demonstrate that Zero-Day warfare is here and is proving decisive. Let's dig in.

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John Robb
Jun 16, 2025
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Things are moving so fast, I’ve decided to write briefs instead. This brief is the first of three on different topics.
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We’ve just had two demonstrations of Zero-Day warfare — a form of blitzkrieg using drones and disruption to achieve strategic surprise — in the last two weeks.

  • The first was Ukraine’s Operation SpiderWeb — a surprise attack against strategic Russian military assets in a remote location.

  • The next was Israel’s surprise attack on Iran’s nuclear program and the assassination of senior personnel.

All of them used prepositioned drones, smuggled into the target country months before the attack, well inside the target country’s defensive perimeter and close to their targets. Both operations were highly successful, and this success has significant implications for Western security. Let’s dig in.

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