The Iranian attack drone ‘Shahed-136’, which has threatened the skies over Europe including Ukraine, has emerged as a key variable on Middle Eastern battlefields. According to the UK Guardian on the 2nd (local time), Iran is estimated to have launched more than 1,000 drones toward Gulf states including Bahrain, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) since US-Israeli airstrikes began on the 28th of last month.

A significant share of these are likely ‘Shahed-136’. The UAE said that by this afternoon it had come under 689 drone attacks and shot down 645 of them. Forty-fourabout 6% of the totalmade it through the air defenses.

One video filmed in Bahrain shows Iran’s triangular-wing drone crashing into a high-rise at night. Another clip captures a drone that had been flying over the Bahraini naval base hosting the US Fifth Fleet diving to destroy a radar dome. Similar attacks were reported in Kuwait and the UAE, as well as at the British Royal Air Force base in Akrotiri, Cyprus.

The ‘Shahed-136’ was developed in Iran in the late 2010s. The airframe is 3.5 m long with a 2.5 m wingspan, and the price per unit is about $50,000 (73,000,000 KRW). Compared with ballistic missiles, which can only be produced in the dozens per year, it is easier to manufacture and far cheaper. Its maximum range reaches about 2,000㎞. It is designed to fly at low altitude close to the ground along preprogrammed complex routes to evade radar detection.

It can carry about 50㎏ of explosives, enough to damage high-rise buildings. Its characteristic noise, relatively large airframe, and terminal dive attack profile induce intense psychological fear. On the Ukrainian battlefield, a high-speed variant equipped with a jet engine has also been identified.

Shahed drones were used intensively in the Russia-Ukraine war to strike infrastructure, particularly power and heating. As a result, power shortages and heating crises broke out across Ukraine, affecting hundreds of thousands of households. The Guardian assessed that if Iran employs the same tactics in the Middle East, there could be significant repercussions for energy and infrastructure.

Iran’s drone onslaught is straining the air defenses of the United States and its allies from Bahrain to the UAE and rapidly depleting munitions stockpiles. Bloomberg noted, “Shooting down drones that cost tens of thousands of dollars with interceptor missiles priced at $4 million (6,000,000,000 KRW) per round once again highlights a structural problem that has been pointed out since the early days of the war in Ukraine.” The outlet analyzed that if this situation continues, both Iran and the United States could face shortages of weapons within days or weeks, making it likely that the side that endures longer will secure a strategic advantage.