only in United Arab Emiratesthe authorities indicated that since the start of the war with Iran on February 28, 941 drones. Of that total, 65 managed to impact within the country, causing damage to infrastructure such as ports, airports, hotels and data centers.
According to him Institute for the Study of War (ISW), sources of USA They informed an American journalist that Iranian Shahed drones are “so far the most dangerous threat” to the Gulf.
According to the EFE agency, there is also concern about the rapid depletion of ammunition Patriotsince more than 800 defense missiles have been spent in just three days in the Middle East to intercept Iranian drones and missiles.
Smoke billowing from Dubai International Airport following an Iranian attack. (AFP).
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Iran’s attacks in the Gulf. (AFP).
Unlike the attacks that Iran has launched on Israelwhere the greatest damage has been recorded due to the impact of ballistic missiles, In the case of the Gulf, it is the Shahed drones that are causing the greatest damage.
The Shahed are very cheap to build compared to what it costs to take them down. Manufacturing them can cost between $20,000 and $50,000. However, These drones have to be shot down with Patriot missiles, which cost $4.7 million per unit.
Furthermore, according to the Reuters agency, Iran has the capacity to produce about 10,000 of these drones per month.
Delivery men on motorcycles ride along a road while a large column of smoke rises behind them after an explosion in the industrial area of Fujairah, United Arab Emirates. (Photo by Fadel SENNA / AFP).
/ FADEL SENNA
The solution to deal with Shahidand in the process lower the high cost of intercept themcould be in Ukrainethe country that has fought the most against them because Russia uses them practically every day.
On Sunday, the president Volodymyr Zelensky stated that Ukrainian experts will be in the Middle East in the coming days to provide their experience in the fight against Iranian drones.
In exchange, Ukraine hopes to obtain missiles for its systems Patriotessential to confront Russia’s missiles.
kyiv has received requests for help in protecting the Gulf from Iranian drones.
A Sting drone is prepared for launch. (Creative Commons).
Ukraine has developed the low-cost Sting drone to neutralize the drones Shahid.
These interceptors are guided by operators who pursue the Shahed and detonate on impact or at close proximity.
According to Wild Hornets, maker of the Sting interceptor, drones can be launched in less than 15 minutes from any flat terrain, and operator training only requires three days.
The price of the Sting ranges from $1,200 to $5,800, a huge savings compared to using the Patriot.
Shahed drones and the war of attrition
A photograph taken on December 27, 2025 shows an Iranian-designed Shahed 136 drone, used by the Russian Army, flying over kyiv during an attack with Russian drones and missiles. (Photo by Sergei SUPINSKY / AFP).
/ SERGEI SUPINSKY
For the defense and intelligence analyst Andrés Gómez de la Torre, Iran has reformulated its way of confronting armed conflicts based on a strategy of asymmetric warbased on hitting its adversaries at the most vulnerable points instead of seeking direct military confrontations with superior powers.
As he explains, one of the pillars of this strategy are the Shahed kamikaze droneswhich have become “the star of the conflict” in the Middle East and other scenarios. These devices, he claims, have a radius of action that can reach up to 2,000 kilometerswhich allows them to operate in large areas of the regional theater of operations.
“They are relatively cheap weapon systems, and they fly at low altitude, which makes their detection difficult,” points out Gómez de la Torre. Furthermore, they are usually released multiple timesin what is known as the swarm techniquewith the aim of saturating the adversary’s anti-aircraft defenses.
Explains that this type of weapon is specially designed for the call war of attritiona strategy in which Iran It seeks to constantly pressure its rivals through repeated, low-cost attacks. “Beyond the physical impact, they also generate a strong psychological effectbecause they can hit both military installations and non-military targets”he points out.
Gómez de la Torre also remembers that these drones have been exported to Russiawhere they are called Gerán-1 and Gerán-2 and have been used in the war against Ukraine, even with improvements introduced by the Russian military industry.
In his opinion, the Shahid They are part of a broader set of capabilities developed by Iran within its military doctrine, which includes rockets, ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and hypersonic technology. All of this responds to a logic of war that seeks avoid direct conventional confrontation with powers like the United States or Israel.
In the specific case of Israel, the analyst explains that drone and rocket attacks must cross several airspaces – such as those of Iraq, Syria or Jordan – and face a multi-layered defensive system that includes Arrow, THAAD, Patriot, David’s Sling and Iron Domein addition to the support of the US fleet in the Mediterranean.
“From a technical perspective it is very difficult to penetrate these defenses with isolated attacks,” he states. For this reason, he adds, Iran resorts to swarm releasesa technique that seeks overwhelm anti-aircraft systems to increase the chances that some projectiles or drones will achieve impact.
In the opinion of Gómez de la Torre, the massive use of these platforms shows that Iran has transformed the battlefield with Shahed kamikaze droneswhich has also forced the United States to develop similar systems, such as the drone LUKEdesigned to confront this type of threats in modern conflicts.
This is what Shahed drones are like
Iran’s Shahed drone. (AFP).
He Shahed-136 has a simple but distinctive design: a structure in delta wing shapewithout a conventional fuselage, which integrates the body of the drone with the wings.
has a length approximate 3.5 meters, its wingspan is 2.5 meters, a total weight of 200 kg, carries an explosive warhead of about 40 kilos, fly to some 185 km/h, which makes it more similar to a small light aircraft than a missile.
Its range reaches 2,000 kilometers, so if it is launched from Irancountries like Israel and Gulf nations can be impacted by the drone.
Use a engine piston with two-bladed rear propeller.
Although it does not have the destructive power of a ballistic missile, its explosive charge is sufficient to damage buildings, fuel depots, radars or military installations.
These drones do not necessarily rely on a remote pilot. They use GPS and inertial navigation to follow a programmed route. Before launch, they are introduced target coordinates. The drone flies autonomously to the set point. In some versions or modifications, the possibility of correct course in flightwhich increases its precision.
Iran’s Shahed drones in a video released by the Islamic Republic.
The Shahid They are not invisible to radar, but they use several characteristics to make their detection difficult:
Low altitude flight. They can fly to some 60 meters above the groundbelow the optimal coverage of many radars.
Irregular trajectory. Its flight may appear erratic or change course slightly, complicating the interception calculation.
Relatively small size. Its radar signature (which is the “fingerprint” of an object, determined by how it reflects radar waves) is smaller than that of conventional aircraft or missiles.
To overcome anti-aircraft defenses, the main secret of its effectiveness is the attack tacticnot just the drone itself. Iran usually launches dozens or even hundreds of drones at the same timesaturating air defense systems. This is called swarm attacks.
Although many are shot down, some manage to break through the defenses simply because anti-aircraft systems cannot intercept all of them at the same time, as is happening in the Gulf.
