The United States-Israel war against Iran nears its fourth week of bloodshed and global controversy. While Tehran's political infrastructure and military resources are in tatters, the regime maintains the ability to launch missiles and suicide drone attacks against nearby allies. Although relentless bombardment by the US and Israel has degraded Iranian drone capabilities—and air defenses successfully intercepted many launched drones—some still manage to find their way through.
In its current war with Iran, the US military is scrambling to quickly adapt to its first major drone war engagement. Usually, the US and its allies are accustomed to dominating airspaces rather than being contested by thousands of low-cost attritable systems.
After the fallout of the initial war's beginning, Gulf countries near Iran are also trying to improve their capabilities to neutralize drone threats as cost-effectively as possible. The Low-Cost Uncrewed Combat Attack System (LUCAS) platform is a drone that was created based on a reverse-engineered Shahed-136 drone the US acquired years ago.
The Iranian military spent years funneling research funds into developing its surprisingly effective, low-cost, long-range Shahed class of drones, which are now wreaking havoc across the Middle East. The Shahed-136 costs around $35,000 per unit to manufacture, yet it can fly up to 1,000 miles, can reach almost 115 mph, and packs an explosive payload weighing between 66 to 123 pounds.
To combat these unprecedented drone attacks, the US and its allies have had to become rather creative. Surface-to-air missile systems protect high-value targets and are extremely effective, but the high price tag of each missile makes them economically unsustainable for every interception.
Sure, the Patriot missiles and Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system can shoot down the drones - but it's not financially feasible to shoot down $35,000 drones with missiles that cost millions each. Experts also point out that it's not just the missile itself - warships, escort ships, manned crews, fuel and maintenance, and other financial costs go into launching missiles to shoot down cheap drones.
Earlier this month, the United Arab Emirates showed footage of a Boeing AH-64 Apache attack helicopter shooting down the feared Iranian one-way attack Shahed drones. This marks a shift toward using internal 30mm chain guns—a much cheaper alternative to guided missiles—to combat the fairly inexpensive drones.
The Boeing helicopter remains a popular primary attack helicopter of various US allies, including the UAE.
In a different drone engagement, a UAE Air Force F-16 fighter jet took down a Shahed-136 attack drone with an AIM-9X Sidewinder missile.
That air-to-air missile is a dependable tool, but it is rather costly with a starting price tag of $400,000. Although the drones were destroyed, these are very expensive solutions to attack mass-produced, cheap drones that realistically don't require much to create and launch -- and prove to be rather damaging if they successfully reach their targets.
Western intelligence officers are unsure how many functional, flight-ready drones Iran has stockpiled in their expansive underground drone manufacturing facilities. However, it has become apparent that the regime in turmoil still has enough drones - and viable launch sites - that it can still pose a significant threat to its Gulf neighbors.
Ukraine, having faced a Russian invasion featuring Iranian drone attacks, has become proficient in shooting them down—and the US military is receiving assistance from these now-skilled drone assassins. Country leaders in Kyiv say the military would be able to supply partners with up to 1,000 interceptor drones per day to defend against Shahed attacks, with a higher figure possible if provided financial aid to boost output. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told British officials that Ukraine can produce 2,000 per day, but his military needs only around 1,000 for their own defensive needs.
Moving forward, expect the Shahed drone attacks to turn into an absolutely booming business for small drone manufacturers across the world - many of whom will be called upon to help design and manufacture drones tasked with killing other drones. The era of "big" expensive wars is now challenged by the so-called "future" war that features "small" technologies proven to be cheap and still troublesome.
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