Iran uses low-cost UAVs to boost US defense spending, says drone CEO

Iran is waging a massive drone campaign across the Middle East, unleashing waves of low-cost, one-way attack drones, also known as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), against Western-aligned targets to impose “exponential costs on America,” a defense expert has warned.

As Tehran reports thousands of launches Shahid Drone Footage of the underground stockpile was shared across the region and by Iranian state media, drone maker and technology company CEO Cameron Chell said. Dragonflysaid Iran’s strategy is designed to force high-end defenses to counter cheap air threats.

“Even a hundred of these drones in the hands of a decentralized unit can create unimaginable terror in a neighboring state,” Chell told Fox News Digital. “The Iranians may not win the war with these drones, but like the (communist) Viet Cong (during the Vietnam War) they have an asymmetric capability that can prolong the war and create political pressure.”

An Israeli firefighter works to put out a fire in Tel Aviv after Iran fired missiles into Israel on Saturday. (Tomer Appelbaum/Reuters)

“These small, hard-to-detect drone units must be targeted because Iran can increase terrorism in unimaginable ways and incur exponential costs on the U.S. side,” he added.

Chell’s warning comes as tensions rise after Saturday’s incident United States-Israel attacks Iran targeted nuclear weapons sites, missile facilities and leadership that killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and several commanders.

Iranian Drones Prove Deadly, killed Six US service members in an attack on a strategic base in Kuwait earlier this week.

The CIA station at the US embassy in the Saudi capital Riyadh was attacked Iranian drones Tuesday’s attack caused limited fire but no injuries.

An example of an Iranian Shahad-class one-way attack drone used by the regime to attack US and Israeli sites in the Middle East. (Getty Images)

In Bahrain, a drone known as the Iranian Shahad model crashed into the upper floors of the Era View Tower in Manama, about a mile from a US naval base.

Iranian drones also attacked a parking lot outside the US consulate in Dubai, while the United Arab Emirates said it intercepted Iranian missile and drone attacks targeting the country.

“Based on the sound of the engine, the apparent angle of attack and the implied speed, as far as I know, it was a Shahad-class one-way attack drone,” Chell said of the Dubai consulate attack video, noting that the drone footage showed “Shaheed 191”.

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Large flames and smoke are seen after debris from an Iranian intercepted drone crashed into the Fujairah oil facility in Fujairah, United Arab Emirates, on Tuesday. (Altaf Qadri/AP Photo)

Fars News Agency also released footage showing several attack drones stockpiled in vast underground tunnels in Iran.

The video showed rows of triangular-shaped drones on rocket launchers, missiles, four launcher vehicles and walls decorated with Iranian flags and photographs of Khamenei. Outlets reported that the time and location of the video remain unverified.

“It is difficult to confirm that Iran has the capability to produce these drones in this volume during wartime,” Chell said of the stockpiling footage.

“To the extent that they were producing this in numbers, the more-significant portion would be for delivery to Russia — which doesn’t seem impossible. The drones in the underground propaganda video are Shahed 191 drones,” he said.

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Footage from Iran’s state-affiliated FARS news agency shows rows of drones allegedly stored underground. (Fars News Agency Telegram)

A new report from Also the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Chell’s comments on cost and range underscored.

“Right now, Iran is using a mix of ballistic missiles and attack drones,” said senior fellow Dara Massicot. “The methods are effective, but targeting drones in this way is resource-intensive and expensive, and will quickly eliminate some types of interceptors.”

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“Land-based air defense interceptor missiles are not unlimited, and the United States and its partners and allies have had stockpile challenges in this area for many years,” she added.

Another senior fellow, Steve Feldstein, said, “The bottom line is that the world is entering a new era of drone warfare as unmanned aircraft proliferate across battlefields in major conflicts and smaller wars.”

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