Judge defensive systems by the time and choices they create

Defensive systems can shape choices without winning a war by themselves. Their value may lie in delaying an attacker, forcing preparation, channeling an approach, or preserving time for another force to decide the war. Long periods of peace can make such capabilities look old-fashioned because procurement debates favour systems that promise direct battlefield effects. A broader test is to judge a capability by the time and choices it creates across a campaign, rather than only by whether it destroys the enemy itself.