In the air, modern combat aircraft can be incredibly potent battlefield and strategic tools.On the ground, they’re targets, as burning strategic bombers in Russia now attest after Ukraine’s recent operation spiderweb.The threat from small drones and new weapon systems wasn’t new – you will find mention of small UAS and other similar threats in Doctrinal documents dating back years. What changed is that the Ukrainians showed it could work – and did it in an extremely public way.Today, I talk about the growing threat to air force assets in their bases, how some major forces are planning to address it, as well as the debate around passive defences like hardened aircraft shelters, decoys, and camo.