What makes the Shahed ‘kamikaze’ drone the most feared weapon in Iran’s arsenal? New Daily Mail show disassembles the primitive device devastating the Gulf
Open The latest episode of the Daily Mail’s War on Tapeforeign correspondent Chris Pleasance examines the details of Iran’s Shahed UAV, 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 deployed thousands of Witnesses into military and civilian infrastructure in the Gulf region.
Although America and its allies have access to advanced missile interceptors, primitive drones have managed to hit US bases, five-star hotels and oil refineries in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait and the UAE.
Homeowner pleasure explains He said the drone’s simplicity is the secret to its lethality. Equipped with a wooden propeller and a reverse-engineered model aircraft engine, Shahed flies low enough to evade even the most sophisticated radar defenses.
Foreign correspondent Chris Pleasance gets under the hood of Iran’s Shahed drone and reveals what makes it such a feared weapon
Although America and its allies have access to advanced missile interceptors, primitive drones have managed to hit US bases, five-star hotels and oil refineries.
Host Pleasance reveals the drone’s simplicity is its secret to lethality
Coming with a price tag of just $35,000 compared to the $4 million cost of the Patriot missiles used to shoot them down, Shahed allows Iran to wage an economic war against the United States that is as damaging as its physical war.
‘Until Shahed arrived, being able to hit targets from afar for only $35,000 was unheard of,’ the foreign correspondent said.
‘For reference, a US Tomahawk cruise missile costs $2 million, while Russia’s KH101 costs an estimated $13 million.
‘These missiles are more complex than Shahed and carry a much larger warhead, but their cost and complexity mean they are only available in small numbers.
‘Iran has already expelled a thousand Martyrs in the first week of the war. Simply put, the United States and its Gulf allies will run out of things to hit the Witnesses long before Iran runs out of drones.
‘Furthermore, US interceptors are designed to only shoot down high-flying, fast-moving missiles. They were not intended to deal with low-flying, slow-moving drones. This is a blind spot in US defense.
‘The drone’s lack of complexity has strangely become its best feature.’
Only Ukraine has real experience in combating the Shahedes. Before the Iran war, the Islamic Republic sold thousands to Russia to systematically target Ukraine’s power grid and energy infrastructure.
Realizing that they were exposed, Ukraine pioneered a new kind of warfare: UAV-on-UAV warfare.
Pleasance argues that this approach ‘completely reverses the economic logic of using Shahads’.
He said: ‘The Ukrainian interceptors cost only $2,500, can fly at 200 miles per hour and are purpose-built to destroy the Witnesses.
‘Using a mix of pilot controls and artificial intelligence, interceptors can detect Iranian drones much better than conventional missile defenses.
‘These drones can hit the Shahads due to their speed and shape. This means they don’t need to carry a lot of explosives, making them cheap and easy to make.
This unmanned aerial vehicle, which was first introduced in 2024, is now thought to be able to produce a hundred of these unmanned aerial vehicles in Ukraine every day. Ukraine claims to have shot down 80% of the drones Russia launched at it.’
Both the UAE and Qatar have reportedly contacted Ukraine to purchase some of the new drones. Last week, President Zelensky confirmed that Ukraine’s anti-drone teams had been sent to Jordan at Washington’s request.
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