Extract from ABC News
The P1-Sun interceptor drone is among the cheap innovative systems Ukraine developed to defend against Russian drone attacks. (Reuters: Valentyn Ogirenko)
In short:
Ukraine is sending experts and interceptor drones to the Middle East to help the US and Gulf states defend against Iranian attacks.
Iranian Shahed drones have been Russia's weapon of choice in the war in Ukraine, so Kyiv has developed cheap technology to counter the threat.
What's next?
Waves of Iranian Shahed drone strikes are breaching US air defence systems in the region and risk depleting America's expensive interceptor supplies.
Struggling to fully defend against swarms of Iranian attack drones, the United States and Arab states are calling on Ukraine for help.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he received requests from the US, Europe and 11 countries neighbouring Iran to help down drones fired by Tehran.
Over four years of Russia's full-scale invasion, Ukraine has become a world leader in developing innovative drone defence capabilities.
Russia's weapon of choice has been its so-called kamikaze drones based on Iran's Shahed technology.
A resident touches a Russian-Iranian Shahed-136 kamikaze drone installed in front of Saint Michael's Cathedral in Ukraine. (Reuters: Valentyn Ogirenko)
Moscow has demonstrated that cheap Iranian Shahed drones can be mass-manufactured and launched in the hundreds to overwhelm air defence systems.
Now Iran has been using the same tactics, with the same type of drones, in retaliatory strikes on US targets and allies across the Gulf.
A building in the capital of Bahrain took a direct hit from an Iranian attack drone. (Reuters: Hamad I Mohammed)
Over the past week, Iranian drones have set vulnerable oil and gas facilities ablaze, hit civilian and military infrastructure, and caused damage to international airports.
Analysts say it appears the US was unprepared for the "highly predictable threat from Iran" and is now scrambling for Ukraine's drone expertise before its interceptor supplies run out.
Drones draining US interceptors
Sophisticated US air defences are strewn across the Gulf, deployed mainly to protect America's military bases and allies in the region from Iranian threats.
But most of the expensive systems, such as the THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) and Patriots, were designed to target ballistic missiles, not cheap drones.
A single Patriot missile interceptor can cost up to $US1 million ($1.4 million), while an Iranian Shahed drone costs between $US20,000 and $US50,000.
Missiles used in Patriot air defence systems can cost millions of dollars. (AP: Mindaugas Kulbis)
Iran has so far been using a mixture of ballistic missiles and drones in response to US and Israeli attacks that began on February 28.
Dara Massicot, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace's Russia and Eurasia Program, said the majority of Iranian drone attacks were being intercepted, but it would be difficult to sustain.
"The United States, Israel, and Gulf countries are expanding considerable effort to neutralise both threats, using strikes on launch platforms, fighter aircraft, and some exquisite air defence interceptors," she wrote in an assessment for the Washington-based think tank.
"The methods are effective, but targeting drones in this way is resource-intensive and expensive, and it will drain certain types of interceptors quickly."
An Iranian drone slams directly into a building in Bahrain.
Shahed drones have a wingspan of about 2.5 metres, with a propeller-driven engine at the back and 50 kilograms of explosives in the nose.
The weapons do not need a staging platform, so hundreds can be launched essentially from the back of a truck.
The drones are often fired alongside a number of decoys to saturate air defences, and can evade radar systems by flying slowly and low to the ground.
By mid-last week, Iran had launched more than 2,000 drones across the Middle East, according to the Pentagon.
Iranian Shahed drones on display during celebrations of the nation's army in 2023. (AP: Iranian Army)
CNN and American political magazine The Atlantic reported that US officials had admitted cracks in drone defence capabilities.
At a closed-door meeting between senior Trump administration members last week, the US Defence Secretary and Joint Chiefs of Staff reportedly addressed the counter-drone shortcomings.
"There are no great defences available to the US military to defend against the Shahed," a congressional official told The Atlantic.
"We have known this for a long time. We don't have, at scale, good defences against drones."
It is uncertain how many Shahed drones Iran has stockpiled.
Iran's Fars News Agency, affiliated with the country's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, posted a video last week that purportedly showed underground bunkers lined with rows of Shaheds.
University of New South Wales senior lecturer in aviation Oleksandra Molloy, an expert in drone warfare in Ukraine, said Russia had shown how the drones could be mass-produced at scale.
Moscow produces nearly 3,000 Shahed-type drones a month at domestic factories.
"Iran and Russia have a close relationship," Dr Molloy said.
"We've seen Russia continuously increasing its capabilities … by the end of 2025, its manufacturing of Shahed drones increased three times."
Ukraine gets call for help
Retired Australian Army Major General Mick Ryan, an authority on drone warfare, was surprised the US had not adopted lessons learned in Ukraine.
"This was a highly predictable threat from Iran, which was not paid sufficient respect by the Americans and others, and as a result, they were unprepared," he wrote.
"Ukraine has built a layered, cost-effective counter-drone architecture over four years of trial and error."
Mr Zelenskyy said he had "not received any direct requests" from the US to share his country's expertise at the outset of the current war in the Middle East.
But by Thursday last week, he announced Ukraine had been called upon for "specific support in protection against Shaheds".
Mr Zelenskyy told The New York Times Ukraine sent interceptor drones and a team of experts to protect US military bases in Jordan after a request from Washington.
The first group of Ukrainian military experts were expected to arrive in the region this week.
In return for his help, Mr Zelenskyy has proposed a "swap" to partners, saying Ukraine would like to receive "the Patriot missiles we have a deficit of, and give them a corresponding number of interceptors".
Drone on drone warfare
Several Ukrainian companies have developed innovative low-cost interceptor drones priced at as little as $US1,000 to $US2,000.
New solutions have also been rapidly evolving, with systems moving from prototype to mass production within months.
Dr Molloy described the interceptors as "drone on drone warfare".
There have been several different types of interceptors designed to neutralise drones by physically ramming them at high speeds.
"The recent systems have advanced abilities to detect and go after the target," Dr Molloy said.
"On average, the success rate of the interceptor drones was about 60 per cent."
The SkyFall P1-Sun interceptor drone is operated by pilots wearing first-person view goggles. (Reuters: Valentyn Ogirenko)
Marco Kushnir, a spokesperson for Ukrainian weapons manufacturer General Cherry, said its "Bullet" interceptor drone, developed in late 2025, had already downed several hundred Russian Shaheds.
He said the company had the capacity to produce "tens of thousands" of interceptors a month and would be willing to assist the Middle East.
"We are ready to share them, and we want to share them," Mr Kushnir told the Associated Press.
The Sting, produced by the volunteer-driven start-up Wild Hornets, uses similar tactics to the Bullet interceptor.
The weapons are remotely controlled by Uncrewed Aerial Vehicle pilots, who control the drones through viewing displays or first-person-view goggles.
Another model, Skyfall's 3D-printed P1-Sun, costs about $US1,000 and can reach speeds of more than 300 kilometres an hour.
Skyfall had a production capacity of up to 50,000 drones a month, a company spokesperson said.
Training challenges
Some Ukrainian manufacturers said they could provide thousands of interceptor drones without compromising the country's defences.
But there will be challenges in training crews.
The weapons will also need to be integrated into radar systems that can detect targets at long range.
"Many Western countries overall are not prepared for the drone war we currently see in Russia and Ukraine," Dr Molloy said.
Ms Massicot from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace said the learnings from Ukraine "should have started long ago".
"Now is the time to start — and catch up quickly," she said.
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