Europe is deploying its most advanced and expensive interceptor missiles in its armoury to the Gulf to take on Iran’s widespread $30,000-a-time Shahed-136 kamikaze drones, with cheaper alternatives honed on the Ukrainian battlefield longer-term options.
Some of the air defence systems cost millions of dollars but defence experts told The National that if a $3 million interceptor is used to protect a tower block, hotel or hospital from a far cheaper drone attack then the price tag is irrelevant.
“Shooting down a pretty crude drone that costs $30,000 to put together, you have got to balance out against the cost of the thing you're protecting from being destroyed,” said Jeremy Binnie, missile expert at Janes, the defence intelligence company.
“It's not necessarily the cost of the missile you're using to intercept it, but the cost of what might not be here if you didn't.”
With its expertise in defending against an estimated 55,000 drone attacks last year alone, Ukraine could well provide a lower-cost answer to taking on the Shaheds.
Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy has offered to the US and Gulf his country’s expertise in tackling the threat of drones, and suggested swapping some of its interceptor drones for US Patriot air defences to protect against Russia’s ballistic missiles. In a call on Friday, Keir Starmer, Emmanuel Macron, Friedrich Merz and Giorgia Meloni welcomed Mr Zelenskyy’s offer of expertise to partners in the region, Downing Street said.
The Sting drone, priced at $2,100, is among several that have been successfully developed and have destroyed more than 3,000 Russian Geran drones, based on the Shahed design sold by Iran, in the last year alone.
Current conflicts will now see a “boom in short range air defence against drones”, said Robert Tollast, of the Rusi think tank. “We're about to enter a period of massive investment globally although it has taken a tremendously long time for Europe to wake up to this threat.”
He added that a “counter drone ground architecture” similar to Ukraine’s was required in which sensors, tactical radars and mobile gun-lorry teams are co-ordinated in defence. “There's a lot of work to be done,” he added.
More immediately, Europe has several interceptor systems that it is sending to the Gulf to help protect civilian and military targets.
Sting interceptor: $2,100
Built with a 3D printed bullet-shaped quadcopter projectile, the Sting achieves speeds of 340kmh with the ability to cruise at 3,000m. It uses thermal imaging to pick up Shahed drones, diving down on them with its 1.8kg warhead at ranges up to 25km.
It is part of Ukraine’s range of drone interceptors that have shot down 70 per cent of the Shahed-type weapons fired at its cities.
Hydra 70: $22,000
The Hydra 70mm is a US development designed specifically to meet the drone threat with low-cost response, that could yet appear in the Iran conflict.
Fitted with a laser sensor, up to 40 of them can be attached to F-15, F-16 fighters or an attack helicopter. It flies at 700 metres per second and carries a 6kg warhead with a 10km range.
Martlet: $50,000
The Martlet is a lightweight British missile designed to counter drones, helicopters and fast boats all at the relatively low cost of $50,000 per missile.
Launched from helicopters or ground vehicles it uses laser beam-riding guidance for high precision against manoeuvring targets. The missile travels at about Mach 1.5, has a range of around 8km and carries a 3kg multipurpose warhead.
Hellfire: $150,000
The AGM-114 Hellfire can be adapted to be used on both drones and attack helicopters for precision strikes on Shahed-type weapons. It uses modern laser guidance or millimetre-wave radar to hit targets with a high degree of accuracy. It has a range of up to 11km flying at 1,600kmh with a 9kg shaped-charge or blast-fragmentation warhead.
Aim-132 Asraam: $225,000
This is a British “advanced short-range air-to-air missile” designed for high-speed interception of enemy aircraft and cruise missiles and was used by an RAF F-35 pilot to shoot down two Shahed-type drones heading towards Cyprus earlier this week. It has an advanced infrared seeker that locks on to targets at long-range using astonishing 50g manoeuvres to close and kill.
It reaches speeds above Mach 3 (3700kmh) with a range of 25km carrying a 10kg high-explosive fragmentation warhead.
Cheongung II: $1.5m
Also known as the M-SAM Block II, it has been supplied to UAE, Saudi Arabia and Iraq. It is a South Korean medium-range surface-to-air missile that can intercept fighters and ballistic missiles.
It uses advanced tracking radar to destroy incoming threats in their terminal phase.
There have been unconfirmed reports that Cheongung II has been used by the UAE with its interception range of 50km and blast fragmentation warhead able to defeat incoming projectiles at half the cost of a Patriot.
SAMP/T: $2.5m
Developed by France and Italy to intercept aircraft, it uses the highly agile Aster missile to intercept cruise missiles, ballistic missiles and drones.The interceptors have a unique “PIF-PAF” thrust vector control system for extreme manoeuvrability during interception.Aster 30 variants can reach speeds of around Mach 4.5 and engage targets at ranges up to 120km with a proximity-fused fragmentation warhead.
Patriot PAC-3: $3m
A US-made surface-to-air interceptor designed specifically to destroy ballistic missiles and warplanes that is broadly deployed across GCC states.
The advanced PAC-3 version, like the THAAD, uses hit-to-kill kinetic energy to destroy targets rather than a large explosive warhead. It travels at Mach 5 (6,100kmh) and can intercept threats at ranges of roughly 60km.
Arrow-3: $3.5m
The US-Israeli developed “exo-atmospheric” interceptor was designed to destroy long-range ballistic missiles in space before they re-enter the atmosphere.
During the 12-day war last June, up to 34 were fired to intercept Iranian missiles with a reported 90 per cent success rate. It too uses a hit-to-kill system and advanced sensors to collide directly with incoming warheads at ranges of more than 2000km and altitudes exceeding 100km.
THAAD: $12m
A system that has already been used to great effect by Gulf states in the current war, THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defence) intercepts missiles in their terminal phase of flight.
It is one of the most advanced interceptors in the world, with its “hit-to-kill” ability in which an interceptor flying at Mach 8 (9,900kph) can strick an attacking weapon head on.It can engage targets at ranges of 200km and altitudes up to 150km.
