LONDON — The American anti-drone system has proven its effectiveness Russian drones in Ukraine It will soon be sent to the Middle East to bolster U.S. defenses against Iranian drones, two U.S. officials told The Associated Press on Friday.
While the United States used Patriot and THAAD missile systems Shooting down Iranian missiles Successfully, there are limited effective defenses against drones in the Middle East now, according to a US defense official, one of two officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military matters.
The other US official said the US response to confronting Iran’s Shahed drones was “disappointing,” especially since the drones launched by Iran are a more basic version of the same drone that Russia is constantly improving and modernizing in its war in Ukraine.
Efforts to bolster US counter-drone capabilities in the Middle East highlight concerns about planning an attack Iranian retaliation The region in light of the American and Israeli strikes. The Persian Gulf countries have complained about this Not given enough time In preparation for the torrent of Iranian drones and missiles bombing its territory.
the The order being sentknown as Merops, flies drones against drones. It’s small enough to fit in the back of a mid-sized pickup truck, and can recognize and approach drones, using artificial intelligence to navigate when satellite and electronic communications are jammed.
Drones are difficult to identify on radar systems calibrated to detect high-speed missiles and can be mistaken for birds or aircraft. The Merops system is designed to detect and remove them. Importantly, the system is also cheaper than launching a missile that costs hundreds of thousands of dollars over a drone that costs less than $50,000.
“We are very good at shooting down missiles,” the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut, said this week. “What is even more problematic for us is the huge stockpile of Iranian drones, which are difficult to detect and shoot down.”
Himes said drone attacks represent a “mathematics problem” as the United States cannot continue to rely on expensive military interceptors, such as Patriot systems, to shoot down cheap, fast-made Iranian drones.
“It’s really expensive to shoot down a cheap drone,” he said. “A giant missile chases a small drone.”
Merops has been deployed in NATO countries Poland and Romania in November after Russian attack drones Repeatedly entered NATO airspace. The US defense official says that America has learned lessons from deploying the system and other similar systems in Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Thursday that the United States had requested this Help his country In the fight against Iranian Shahed drones, which Russia has used in large numbers in Ukraine. Zelensky did not specify what type of assistance Ukraine would provide, but the US defense official said the Mirops system was part of it.
When asked about Zelensky’s comments“I would certainly accept, you know, any assistance from any country,” Trump told Reuters on Thursday.
In the Middle East, Merops will be deployed in various locations, including places where US forces are not present, the defense official said. Most of the systems will be sent directly by Perennial Autonomy — a manufacturer backed by former Google CEO Eric Schmidt — and will not impact defenses in Europe, the official said.
Perennial Autonomy did not immediately respond to questions regarding the use of Merops in the Middle East.
Pentagon officials acknowledged this week in closed briefings with lawmakers that they are struggling to stop waves of drones launched by Iran, leaving some American targets in the Gulf region vulnerable.
“That doesn’t mean we can stop everything, but we’ve made sure we prepare the maximum possible defense and the maximum possible force protection before we go on the offensive,” Defense Minister Pete Hegseth told reporters this week.
Michael Robbins, president and CEO of AUVSI, a drone industry group, said lessons from the Middle East and Ukraine show that the United States must accelerate the deployment of advanced counter-drone technologies, so that “our forces can defend bases and populations without spending $1 million to stop a $50,000 threat.”
___
Associated Press writers Lisa Mascaro, Didi Tang, David Klepper, Michelle L. Price, Ben Finley and Seung-Min Kim contributed to this report from Washington.