Iran's missile math: $20,000 drones take on $4 million patriots
Just three days into the conflict, the Iran war has become attritional. Waves of drone attacks by the Islamic Republic are putting pressure on the defenses of the U.S. and its partners from Bahrain to the United Arab Emirates, depleting weapons stockpiles. The outcome of the fight may depend on which side runs out of munitions first.
Shahed-136 one-way attack drones, small, rudimentary cruise missiles, continued to pound targets across the Middle East on Monday. The drones have in recent days hit U.S. bases, oil infrastructure and civilian buildings, since the U.S. and Israel air strikes on Iran — a barrage of cruise missiles, drones and precision-guided bombs — began on Saturday.
U.S.-made Patriot air-defense missiles have been largely successful in stopping the Iranian Shaheds and other ballistic missiles, with interception rates over 90%, according to the UAE. But using $4 million missiles to destroy $20,000 drones illustrates a problem that has haunted Western military planners since early in the Ukraine war: The cheap weapons can chew up resources meant for much more complex threats.
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