Analysts noted that during the Second World War, 4,500 air sorties had been required to drop 9,000 bombs to destroy a railway bridge. In Vietnam the figure was 190 bombs; in Kosovo it required only one to three cruise missiles. By the time of the invasion of Iraq, a single missile guided by satellite could do the job. Moscow realized it had fallen behind the USA’s space-based military assets and set about trying to catch up.
