Iran war highlights Ukraine’s rapid rise to drone superpower status

Ukrainian drone warfare experts arrived in the Middle East this week to defend the region against Iranian attack drones.

“Ukrainian drone warfare experts arrived in the Middle East this week to defend the region against Iranian attack drones”

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They are coordinating air defense operations in Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates and are reportedly working alongside American colleagues to protect US military bases in Jordan.

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News of these landmark deployments came also exactly one year after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s infamous Oval Office meeting with US President Donald Trump, which saw the US leader tell his Ukrainian counterpart, “You don’t have the cards.”

Twelve months on, it would appear that Zelenskyy does in fact have some trump cards of his own.

The Iran war has sparked a sudden surge in international demand for Ukraine’s unique drone warfare expertise as states seek to counter swarms of Iranian attack drones that threaten to overwhelm or exhaust conventional missile-based air defenses.

Nobody is better equipped to address this challenge than Ukraine, which since 2022 has gained unrivaled experience defending its country against massive Russian drone attacks on an almost daily basis.

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Ukraine has learned to defend in a cost-effective and sustainable manner by employing cheap interceptor drones, sophisticated monitoring systems, electronic warfare equipment, and helicopter gunships.

Ukraine signaled a readiness to share its drone warfare experience with the United States and its Gulf region allies, and Kyiv’s offer has been readily accepted, making the Ukrainian crews currently deploying to the Middle East likely the first of many.

Ukraine’s domestic drone sector grew from early experiments after 2014 to major breakthroughs following the full-scale invasion of 2022.

“Ukrainian drone warfare experts arrived in the Middle East this week to defend the region against Iranian attack drones”

Atlantic Council

Domestic output is expected to reach seven million drones in 2026 after expanding from only a handful of producers at the start of the full-scale invasion.

Around three-quarters of all Russian battlefield casualties are now inflicted by Ukrainian drones, and a drone-dominated kill zone stretches for over ten kilometers either side of the front lines.

Long-range drones have enabled strikes on military and industrial sites located over one thousand kilometers from the Ukrainian border.

At sea, Kyiv used domestically developed naval drones to break the Russian blockade of Ukraine’s Black Sea ports and neutralize around one-third of Russia’s entire Black Sea Fleet, after which Putin was forced to withdraw the remainder of his warships from Crimea to the relative safety of Russia itself.

Some naval models now include anti-aircraft missile capabilities and can act as mini aircraft carriers for smaller drones.

Ukraine’s interceptor technologies attracted interest from Gulf states and private customers, with customers including Saudi Aramco reportedly queuing to acquire Ukrainian interceptors.

This demand followed Russia’s upgrading of its Shahed fleet after acquiring blueprints from Iran, which enabled far larger nightly attacks on Ukraine.

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Germany confirmed plans to have Ukrainian experts train German troops, and Romania unveiled a joint venture to co-produce drones with Ukraine.

Ukrainian specialists are training NATO forces while guarding Gulf petrostates and US military bases, a shift that the author argues has transformed Ukraine’s international image from heavily dependent to a valuable security partner and major military power.

The author concludes that Putin’s attempt to “demilitarize” Ukraine in February 2022 backfired by accelerating Kyiv’s rise to drone superpower status, changing outside perceptions, strengthening Ukraine’s geopolitical standing, and leaving Zelenskyy with “plenty of cards” to play.

The piece is by David Kirichenko, an associate research fellow at the Henry Jackson Society.