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Since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, it has launched numerous missile barrages & waves of drone swarms over the past 4 years. Intercepting incoming missiles with West-provided air defence systems was relatively easier but tackling the cheap Russian drones sourced originally from Iran with million dollar missiles on a sustained basis for years was almost untenable given Ukraine has only received 800 interceptors from the West since 2022.
That's why Ukraine turned to McGyvering & Tech improvisations to develop ultra low-cost Interceptor drones costing as low as $1K and has been successfully using them to intercept Russian drones with over thousands of successful intercepts so far while preserving the precious missile interceptors for the incoming million dollar missiles.
Now, in 2026, the U.S. & Israel are faced with the same economic asymmetry after having dispensed away with over 800 missile interceptors in just 3 days of war operations against Iran. The Gulf States, too, are in exactly the same spot with millions of Dollars worth of American interceptors still pitted against Iran 's low cost $800K missiles & $20K drones with their remaining stockpiles being expended quickly while Iran still has a sizeable stock of missiles & drones left as they continue to rain down on their energy & other infrastructure targets.
The Goliaths of the world, thus, are now actively looking & turning towards David for ready answers & solutions to tackle & solve the asymmetric aerial equation urgently & Ukraine is in vogue with the entire West & the GCC States seeking indigenously developed Ukrainian expertise in drone & counter drone warfare almost as a precious capability.
It is, thus, likely to become the standard playbook going forward in asymmetric wars between the unequals or even conventional wars with disruptive tech, like drones & drone interceptors, becoming the potential equalizer & gamechanger with even the larger aggressors in asymettric wars, too, already replicating the same playbook on the offensive side of things, as being seen with Russia having duly adopted Shaheds and the U.S. developing it's copy, in form, of the LUCAS. Now it's time for them to replicate the things on the defensive side, in terms, of counter drone capabilities with drone interceptors. Similar is likely to be the evolution of missile interception too given the emergence & rise of the era of low-cost, mass produced cruise missiles like Barracuda from Anduril.
Rarely does it happen in the annals of warfare history that underdogs like Ukraine & Iran get to dictate, fundamentally alter & revolutionize the tactical & doctrinal aspects of warfare with disruptive modern tech against behemoths like Russia & America even without winning against them...
Such is the power of modern disruptive tech which turns quantity, backed by hugely scaled mass production, into a lethal & gamechanger quality of its own..!
