How 'the poor man’s cruise missile’ is shaping Tehran’s retaliation
CNBC • • world
Key Points:
- The Shahed-136 "kamikaze" drone, designed in Iran and used extensively by Russia in Ukraine, is now central to Iran's retaliation strategy against the U.S. and its Gulf allies, with thousands deployed so far.
- These drones are relatively cheap to produce, costing between $20,000 and $50,000 each, compared to millions for ballistic missiles and the expensive interceptors used to shoot them down, creating a costly imbalance for defenders.
- Gulf states and Israel have intercepted most drones using U.S.-supplied systems like the Patriot missile, but the volume of attacks risks depleting their finite interceptor stockpiles, especially with coordinated multi-front assaults by Iranian allies.
- The Shahed-136's scalable design
