Re:Narco Submarine Found in Spain
by TeMPOraL on Monday March 15, 2021 @05:45AM
(#26464046)
> But IDK if a small submarine with little or no crew, small dive depth, and relatively small payload needs all thus. If a nation-state wanted to deploy it, that could be done way more covertly.
In a way, this is tautological. Anything an organized crime group does, a nation state can do trivially, by just paying that crime group (or a similarly-sized and skilled legit group).
The right question is, as you point out, whether it's useful for a nation state to do this. Most of the time it probably isn't - cold war is as much about capability as it is about advertising the capability to the adversaries. If the Russians - or the Chinese, or the Americans - aren't bragging about it, they probably aren't using it in a meaningful fashion.
In a way, this is tautological. Anything an organized crime group does, a nation state can do trivially, by just paying that crime group (or a similarly-sized and skilled legit group).
The right question is, as you point out, whether it's useful for a nation state to do this. Most of the time it probably isn't - cold war is as much about capability as it is about advertising the capability to the adversaries. If the Russians - or the Chinese, or the Americans - aren't bragging about it, they probably aren't using it in a meaningful fashion.