Videos and satellite images show Iran's drone army puncturing U.S. and allied defenses

The buzz came before the explosion.

“The buzz came before the explosion”

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An aerial vehicle dove from the cloudless sky toward its target at Camp Buehring, a U.S. military base in Kuwait.

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It struck near a running track with a fiery plume of black smoke.

“Oh s---t,” a man recording from the base said.

“Oh my God.

Oh, that was right here.

They’re f---ing getting… They’re starting to dial into our building.”

The video ends as the smoke billows in the desert outpost.

The footage of this attack, posted online on March 1 but possibly filmed earlier, is one of over 30 open-source videos and satellite images verified by NBC News showing Iranian drone strikes and interceptions by the U.S. and its allies across seven countries.

Apparent targets include military bases, transportation hubs, energy infrastructure and diplomatic centers.

In 21 of 26 videos, drones appear to reach their targets.

The footage of this attack reveals a pattern of inadequate protection for strategic locations targeted by the drones from the outset of the war.

As the U.S. and Israel bombard Iran with the stated goal of crippling its nuclear, ballistic and drone capabilities, Iran retaliates by utilizing its arsenal of missiles and cheap exploding drones.

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“The drones are a novel challenge for the U.S., its allies and the countries caught in the crossfire,” said Joe Dyke, director of programmes for Airwars, a nonprofit that tracks civilian harm in conflict zones.

Adversaries will be watching America’s response closely.

The weapon’s versatility may allow Iran to prolong the war by straining enemy resources, a tactic attractive for cash-strapped states, experts say.

Iran is a pioneer of the technology, which it sold to Russia following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

It has challenged the economics of warfare.

While the U.S. remains firm in its air dominance, Iran’s drone campaign has forced the targeted countries to use expensive munitions for interceptions.

A drone strike killed six U.S. servicemembers at the civilian Port of Shuaiba in Kuwait.

“The buzz came before the explosion”

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Video verified by NBC News shows that others have bombarded oil infrastructure and logistics hubs.

Some drones have struck U.S. consulates and embassies across the Gulf states as passersby gasped and filmed the nosedives.

An oil storage facility in Oman was hit twice: Once last week and again this week, underscoring the ongoing vulnerability of crucial targets.

The size of Iran’s drone arsenal and production capabilities is unclear.

Interception numbers released by the UAE suggest attacks have dwindled, but that could be an indication of regrouping and stockpiling before the next attack rather than a diminishing supply, said Grieco of the Stimson Center.

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Russia, the only other country using these types of weapons regularly, frequently breaks between major bombardments to amass more drones to release in one attack.

The benefit of Shahed-type drones is the ease of assembly and relatively inexpensive price tag.

Ukrainian authorities have found that the drones are constructed with dual-use components that can evade sanctions.

While the estimated cost of one drone is between $20,000 and $50,000, taking them down with U.S.-made defense systems can cost over 10 times that or more.

With that calculus, the cheap Shahed drone could help Iranians prolong the war and the vast economic damage to the region.

“There’s an assumption that seems to be at work, that the United States can decide when the war ends,” said Grieco.

“I don’t know if the United States is in that position as much as it thinks it is,” she said.

“The Iranians may not agree with that. Are the Iranians going to decide at that point that they’re going to cease operations, too?”