According to US Army Secretary Dan Driscoll, the US military has sent 10,000 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) designed for Ukraine to the Middle East, seeking to repel Iranian attacks without wasting expensive missile defense systems.
Points of attention
- The US military has sent 10,000 interceptor drones developed for Ukraine to the Middle East to defend against Iranian attacks, using cost-effective Merops drones.
- The deployment of Merops drones, costing $14,000 to $15,000 each, offers a more economical solution compared to Iran's Shahed drones, potentially altering the dynamics of warfare in the region.
US uses Merops drones against Iranian attacks
Driscoll said the artificial intelligence-enabled Merops drones were deployed within five days of the start of the US-Israeli operation against Iran on February 28.
The Merops drones were developed under Project Eagle, a defense venture backed by former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, and then sent to Ukraine in 2024.
Merops drones cost about $14,000 to $15,000 each, but Driscoll said larger orders could cost $3,000 to $5,000 per interceptor. That's cheaper than Iran's Shahed drones, which cost at least $20,000 and are widely used against the United States and its allies in the region.
We are in a cost advantage in this regard. So every time Iran launches a missile that we manage to shoot down, it loses a significant amount of money.
The deployment of weapons that were battle-tested in Russia's war against Ukraine comes even as President Donald Trump has dismissed the need for Kyiv to help combat Iranian drones. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has offered to send help to the Middle East to shoot down drones.
The wider use of the Merops system could radically change the balance of forces between the US and Israel, which have been forced to rely on the Patriot and THAAD air defense systems, each of which can cost more than $4 million to destroy Iranian drones and ballistic missiles.
The US is sending a range of counter-drone equipment to the region, including RTX Corp.'s Coyote interceptor.
In addition, the army has also deployed Bumblebee quadcopters, armed with explosives and designed to search for and destroy enemy drones. This system, developed by Perennial Autonomy, was also tested in Ukraine, but initially as a strike drone against moving targets.
In January 2026, the Army purchased Bumblebee systems under a small contract worth $5.2 million through the Pentagon's new Joint Interagency Task Force 401, created to develop and procure counter-drone capabilities and their rapid deployment.
