Russia is using Iranian-manufactured drones to bombard Ukraine’s capital city. Moscow has turned to one of its few remaining allies because its own weapons manufacturing is a shadow of what it once was. While they are not considered top-of-the-line military gear, the drones are relatively inexpensive and not hard to build. Straight Arrow News contributor Katherine Zimmerman notes that this is one of several reasons why the impact of Iran’s drones extends far beyond the Ukraine war.

Iranian drones have proven to be a source of critical capabilities for Iranian forces and proxies in the Middle East. These include aerial surveillance and short and long-range strikes. The drones themselves use a composite of commercially available engines and dual-use technologies that make it difficult to disrupt parts procurement. They may not be the top of the line, but they work at a fraction of the cost of what is needed to defend against them. 

The Shahed-136 is a loitering munition, meaning that it flies low and slow and is intended to crash into its targets, which is how it earned the moniker of a kamikaze drone. It is also relatively small, making it hard to find with radar. Combined with Iran’s Mohajer-6 drone, a drone operator can relay coordinates to the Shehad-136 from great distances, adding a long range precision strike capability. In late 2021, the Iranian military showcased a drone swarm attack with the Shahed-136, which can overwhelm air defenses. And its launchers, mobile and truck mounted, are difficult to detect and destroy before they fire. These are similar to the Scud launchers the US military hunted in Iraq in the first Gulf War, with little success. 

Iranian non-nuclear proliferation within the Middle East has already transformed regional security dynamics. Tehran has given drones to Yemen’s Houthis for years. The Houthis innovated new tactics with these drones that Iranian-backed Iraqi militias began to use against U.S. military targets. The Houthi also target Saudi military and oil infrastructure with drones, testing longer range technology. The $1 million Patriot missiles used to shoot down the relatively low-cost drones are inexpensive and an imperfect solution to the drone threat. I warned to the rising threat from Iranian source weapons in March 2022.

Iranian drones are not going to win the war for Russia and Ukraine. Far from it. They carry a small payload relative to most missiles, unable to cause significant damage to harden military positions. But this does not mean that they cannot be a useful tool for the Russians.