Transponders weren't a requirement back in the day. For the average private pilot they were an expensive toy you wished you could afford.
Irony, you can get them for you drones/quad copters these days so you can legally fly into certain airspace's where tower can't physically see you.
Just a reminder, anons are guessing where the goal posts are so if something doesn't come to fruition, everyone please stay calm, they didn't move.
I hope this is B.S. otherwise, you can forget "Military is the only way" because this would mean the plan has gone out the window.
I'll leave it at that, I'm at risk of being seen as a shill if I lay out the facts up to this point.