On the latest episode of the Daily Mail’s War on Tape, foreign correspondent Chris Pleasance goes under the hood of Iran’s Shahed drone, revealing what makes it such a feared weapon and why only Ukraine has the expertise to counter it.
In retaliation for joint US-Israeli airstrikes on Iran, the Islamic Republic has launched thousands of Shaheds at military and civilian infrastructure across the Gulf region.
Despite America and its allies having access to advanced missile interceptor systems, the primitive drones have managed to strike US bases, five-star hotels and oil refineries in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait and the UAE.
Host Pleasance explains that the drone’s simplicity is the secret to its lethality. Equipped with a wooden propeller and a reverse engineered model aircraft engine, the Shahed flies low enough to evade even the most sophisticated radar defences.
Foreign correspondent Chris Pleasance has gone under the hood of Iran’s Shahed drone, revealing what makes it such a feared weapon
Despite America and its allies having access to advanced missile interceptor systems, the primitive drones have managed to strike US bases, five-star hotels and oil refineries
Host Pleasance explains that the drone’s simplicity is the secret to its lethality
Coming with a price tag of just $35,000, compared to the $4 million cost of the Patriot interceptor missiles used to shoot them down, the Shahed allows Iran to wage an economic war against the US as damaging as its physical one.
‘Being able to hit targets at a distance for just $35,000 was unheard of until the Shahed came along’, the foreign correspondent said.
‘For reference, a US Tomahawk cruise missile costs $2 million and Russia’s KH101 costs an estimated $13 million.
‘Those missiles are more sophisticated than the Shahed and carry a much larger warhead too, but their cost and sophistication means they are only available in small numbers.
‘Iran already fired a thousand Shaheds in just the first week of the war. Simply put, the US and its allies in the Gulf will run out of things to shoot down the Shaheds with way before Iran runs out of drones.
‘On top of which, US interceptors were only ever designed to shoot down high flying, fast moving missiles. They were not meant to deal with low flying, slow moving drones. That’s a blind spot in US defences.
‘The drone’s lack of sophistication, in a bizarre way, has become its best feature.’
Only Ukraine has real experience fighting Shaheds. Before the Iran war, the Islamic Republic sold thousands to Russia, which used them to systematically target Ukraine’s power grid and energy infrastructure.
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Realising they were exposed, Ukraine has pioneered a new kind of warfare — drone versus drone combat.
Pleasance argues this approach has ‘flipped the economic logic of using Shaheds completely on its head.’
He said: ‘Ukrainian interceptors cost just $2,500, they can fly up to 200 miles an hour and were specifically built to destroy the Shaheds.
‘Using a mixture of pilot controls and AI, interceptors can detect Iranian drones much better than traditional missile defences.
‘These drones can slam into Shaheds because of their speed and shape. This means they don’t have to carry much explosive, keeping them cheap and easy to make.
‘First unveiled in 2024, it is now thought Ukraine is capable of producing a hundred of these drones every day. Ukraine claims to have shot down 80% of the drones Russia has launched at it.’
Both the UAE and Qatar have reportedly contacted Ukraine to buy some of its new drones. Last week, President Zelensky confirmed that Ukrainian drone interceptor teams have been dispatched to Jordan at Washington’s request.
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