Has Iran’s drone threat peaked?

Excerpt

In response to the US and Israeli attacks on Iran, Tehran has unleashed more than 1,500 drones on countries across the region, including the United Arab Emirates, Iraq, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Azerbaijan. But as the drone threat grows, so too do the region’s defences against these threats. As a result, it’s more than possible Iran’s drone war has now peaked.

On March 6, the United Arab Emirates published data on drone attacks from Iran. Abu Dhabi said it had detected 1,184 drones in total and 1,110 had been intercepted – a rate of around 93 per cent. The interception rate seems to be increasing. On March 6, the interception rate was 97 per cent for the 112 drones detected that day. On Sunday, only 18 drones were detected and 17 were intercepted.

Seth Frantzman is the author of Drone Wars: Pioneers, Killing Machine, Artificial Intelligence and the Battle for the Future (Bombardier 2021) and an adjunct fellow at The Foundation for Defense of Democracies.