The war between the United States and Iran, now in its fourth week, has delivered another demonstration of what Ukraine has been proving for years: cheap drones can overwhelm even the most sophisticated defenses. Thousands of Iranian Shahed drones have struck hotels, airports, seaports, desalination plants, and energy infrastructure across the Persian Gulf, "Hvylya" reports, citing The Atlantic's investigation.
One Iranian drone hit a U.S. command center in Port Shuaiba, Kuwait, killing six American military personnel and gravely wounding at least 18 others. The United States and its allies have depleted their stocks of expensive air-defense missiles trying to shoot down the swarms, forcing governments across the Middle East to rush-order cheaper alternatives. Among those alternatives: interceptors manufactured in Ukraine, whose deployment was announced earlier this month by President Volodymyr Zelensky.
The pattern mirrors what has played out along Ukraine's front lines since 2022. The Ukrainians sparked what U.S. military officials now openly call a revolution in military technology. "Their level of innovation is out of this world," Lieutenant General Steven Whitney testified this week before the Senate Armed Services Committee. Ukraine has scaled its drone production from fewer than 150,000 units in 2023 to 4 million last year, creating a kill zone where conventional armored vehicles cannot survive.
Yet the world's biggest arms manufacturers have been slow to absorb the lesson. Rheinmetall CEO Armin Papperger dismissed Ukrainian drones as toys during a recent visit by The Atlantic, comparing them to Legos. His company's newest factory in northern Germany is designed to produce artillery shells, not counter-drone systems. When asked whether Rheinmetall had developed any drone protection for its tanks, the company acknowledged it had not.
Iran, by contrast, invested heavily in mass-producing cheap drones. Tehran's Shahed program has stockpiled unmanned aircraft in abundance, and Russia set up factories to manufacture its own version for strikes against Ukrainian cities. The West's failure to learn from Ukraine's experience opened a gap that Iran has exploited in the Gulf, triggering the worst oil-price shock in modern history.
"Hvylya" earlier reported on how Zelensky pitched Ukrainian drones as his country's most strategic asset during visits to the Gulf states.