Iranian-made drones cost as little as $20,000 to make but up to $500,000 to shoot down, a growing concern in Ukraine, report says

Mia Jankowicz
Updated ·3 min read
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Iranian-made drones cost as little as $20,000 to make but up to $500,000 to shoot down, a growing concern in Ukraine, report says

  • Russia's Iranian-made drones cost as little as $20,000 but can cost more to down, a report said.

  • This disparity, and the supply of air-defense missiles, is a growing concern among military experts.

  • Ukraine launched costly missiles over New Year's to fight Russia's drones, the report added.

The cost of shooting down Iranian-made drones over Ukraine can far outweigh the price of manufacturing them, offering Russia an advantage in its invasion of the country, The New York Times reported.

While the Shahed-136 drones being deployed by Russia cost as little as $20,000 to make, shooting one out of the sky can cost between $140,000 and $500,000, The Times reported.

This has created a growing problem for Ukraine and its allies.

Russian President Vladimir Putin's forces have increasingly relied on the Shahed-136, which self-destructs on contact with its target.

As Ukraine rang in the new year, it faced a barrage of 84 of these drones, with its air force saying it shot down every last one.

But as remarkable an achievement as that may be, it's likely to be difficult to sustain given the cost.

Ukraine has used a wide variety of methods to stop the drones, including bringing Soviet-era antiaircraft guns back into play.

Small-arms fire and missiles fired from warplanes have also been deployed.

But the Shahed-136 flies "low and slow" and is "literally trying to fly under the radar," James Rogers, an associate professor in war studies at the University of Southern Denmark who has advised the UN on drones, told Insider in December.

Launched in waves of six or seven at a time, the drones aim to act as a rudimentary swarm to overwhelm defenses.

During the New Year's onslaught, Ukrainian officials said they deployed a more costly option to counter them, several times firing missiles from National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems, The Times reported.

NASAMS is a short- to midrange air-defense system sent to Ukraine by the US in November. Firing it, The Times reported, costs $500,000.

But Mathieu Boulègue, a Russia expert at London's Chatham House, told the newspaper that the cost was "irrelevant as long as the West keeps providing military assistance to Ukraine."

In December, the US announced it would send its most advanced missile-defense system, the Patriot, to Ukraine.

But officials have said this is no silver bullet — precisely because of the cost difference between launching a cheap Iranian drone and defending against it with a top-of-the-line Patriot missile.

Mark Cancian and Tom Karako, military experts at the Center for Strategic and International Studies — who priced the Shahed drone at about $50,000, rather than $20,000 — wrote about the issue in December: "High-value Russian aircraft and ballistic missiles would be appropriate targets.

"Shooting $4 million missiles at $250,000 Russian cruise missiles might be justified if those missiles would hit sensitive targets. Shooting a $4 million missile at a $50,000 Iranian Shahed-136 drone would probably not."

Read the original article on Business Insider