US and Gulf States Request Help From Ukraine to Fend Off Iranian Drones

Ukraine could provide expertise and valuable defense systems to the United States and its Gulf allies to help fend off Iranian drone attacks.

Ukraine is already providing this expertise to the US, Qatar, Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, and the UAE, and they are looking to assist other nations in the region and their European allies. Russia's war against Ukraine is now stretching into its fifth year, having crossed the fourth-anniversary mark in February. However, that conflict is proving to have a silver lining for those involved in the war with Iran.

Back in 2021, Iran developed the Shahed-136, a kamikaze drone designed for maximum impact at minimum cost. The drone costs between $20,000 and $50,000 to make, but US military bases in the Gulf are using Patriot and SM-2 interceptor missiles that can cost between $2 million and $4 million for one shot. This makes the interceptions of the drones incredibly costly, while they are cheap and easy for Iran to produce.

This low-cost attack system quickly intrigued Russia, who bought thousands of them from Iran in the initial stages of the war against Ukraine. Russia quickly set up a production facility of their own, which builds over 170 units of the Geran-2 – a variant of the Shahed – per day. The drones also possess new equipment, like radio jamming systems and larger amounts of explosives.

Because of this, Ukraine is incredibly experienced when it comes to drone attacks– statistics show that Russia launches an average of 100 drones a day at the eastern European nation.

To combat the issue of drones, which the US was relatively unprepared for, the country's military reverse-engineered a Shahed-136 and discovered how to replicate it. Now, the US is producing a variant of Shahed to use against Iran, helping fend off drone attacks and continue the conflict.

Nevertheless, intercepting the drones has proved to be challenging, allowing Ukraine to step in as an assist. According to Ukrainian officials, the country has more than ten companies that produce cost-effective defense systems and interceptor drones designed to shoot down attack drones.

If the US and their Gulf allies were able to order these systems, they could intercept Iranian drones much more effectively, allowing them to save money and preserve their missile stockpiles for intercepting Iranian strikes.

However, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has asserted that these systems could come at a cost. Ukraine is currently short on PAC-3 missiles – those utilized by the Patriot interceptor system – which are needed to fend off Russian missile attacks. Meanwhile, the Gulf has a surplus of these, but they do not have the capability to produce drone interceptor systems. Zelenskyy suggested that the nations could execute an exchange of sorts, allowing both sides to benefit and fight back against their respective enemies.

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