US may not have capacity to take down full barrage of Iranian drones, officials warn

[James48]

Source: The Guardian

Top military officials told lawmakers in a closed door briefing on Tuesday that they may not be able to shoot down every Iranian drone being launched against US military installations and assets in retaliatory attacks, according to two people familiar with the matter.

The officials, led by the chair of the joint chiefs of staff, Gen Dan Caine, said Iran has been deploying thousands of one-way attack drones and while they have capacity to take down the vast majority but not all of the barrage.

As a result, the officials said in a classified briefing for lawmakers on Capitol Hill, the US was focused on destroying the launch sites for the drones and conventional missiles as quickly as possible. The people spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive details.

In retaliation against US strikes, Iran has been launching its low-cost, one-way attack Shahed drones. By flying low and slow, the drones are seen to be better able to evade conventional air defenses than ballistic missiles.

A senior administration official said Iran’s apparent drone strategy – to get the US to sacrifice its most sophisticated Patriot and Thaad interceptors – was misguided and unsuccessful because the US has been downing the drones with several different measures.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/mar/04/us-interceptors-iranian-drones

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Trump said we have unlimited ammo. The Joint Chiefs say we are shooting down $20,000 drones with $4 million missiles, and will be running out soon.

[msongs]

1. 47 could ask the ukrainians for help with drone warfare but will not nt

[paleotn]

3. They are the experts right now.

[paleotn]

2. Remember the not so successful "scud hunts" during Desert Storm?

Concentrating on the launch sites, particularly drones, is difficult. Particularly in a country as large as Iran. Good luck with that. And no, we don't have enough PAC-3 missiles, and production will take years to ramp. That became very apparent even when we were properly arming Ukraine. Now Ukraine will get the short end due to Donnie's big adventure.

[AZJonnie]

6. "Now Ukraine will get the short end due to Donnie's big adventure." Excellent point!

People have been asking "If tRump is a Putin stooge, and Iran is a Russian ally, why would tRump attack Iran? Don't these points conflict?" The obvious conclusion being "oh, well, I guess tRump must NOT be a Putin stooge after all!"

But I say no, actually, you cannot conclude that. Because this whole thing is also a BIG, world-wide distraction from Russia's invasion of Ukraine. And, I say, it provides a rather perfect pretext for tRump to NOT help Ukraine. With Iran in play, he'll get a wider swath of the American public agreeing on principle that we don't have the military resources to come to Ukraine's aid because we have "our own" battle to fight.

While us attacking Iran might not appear as yet to be a clean win for Putin, there are definitely ways it serves Russia's interests. Who knows, maybe in the end, Iran (or an oily part of it that's carved out in the eventual "peace plan" ) ends up fully in the hands of either Russia itself, or a close, neighboring Russian ally. In that instance, it'll be certain tRump was doing his handlers bidding.

If I think through all possibilities here, I'm not 100% that Iran ends up maintaining it's current geographic boundaries, or indeed even that a state called Iran continues to exist. Depends on how far IQ47 actually plans on taking the whole thing I suppose

[RockRaven]

4. And note: this has always been known.

The Dotard and Kegsbreath started this shit in spite of this fact. This is not an "oops, we just found out" thing.

[Tim S]

5. Rope-A-Dope. Persia has a civilization that's over 6,000 years old. They know how to last

[sarisataka]

7. File under "Duh"

Anyone who says they can stop every single weapon an enemy may fire is lying.

[Miguelito Loveless]

8. So, we're calling them

“One way” drones now? Really?

[pat_k]

9. Hegseth was so busy making DOD manly again, he neglected to notice that warfare has utterly changed.

Desperation breeds innovation. And our DOD should have been keeping a much closer eye on the innovations the Ukrainians have come up with.

Instead, this regime told them to go fuck themselves.

Had they funded and continued coordination and support perhaps they would have learned a thing or five.

[EX500rider]

10. The Ukrainian's already know what works

The German Flakpanzer Gepard


The Soviet ZSU-23-4 Shilka would also do the trick

The US Navies Phalanx CIWS mounted on land also good

[Emrys]

13. Add a whole variety of lower-cost, lower-tech countermeasures

Last edited Thu Mar 5, 2026, 08:35 AM - Edit history (1)

Helicopters and light aircraft carrying sharpshooters using conventional firearms have had quite a degree of success, among other methods.

[EX500rider]

16. Yeah basically technicals, pickups with 50 cals in the back

And then their phone app that allows civilians to mark when one passes over head giving them time to get the air defenses in the right area

[fujiyamasan]

11. Could this go both ways?

Are the drones flying over mostly Russian made or Iranian? I thought many of them were Shahed drones too.

[Emrys]

14. This is a point I was going to add, but you beat me to it

Debris of Shaheds has been found in some of the Gulf states carrying Russian markings.

The Iranians helped Russia set up its own manufacturing facilities, and Russia has since been exporting Shaheds to Iran. I don't think we know in what quantities, but obviously enough of a proportion for fragments to survive and show up on the ground in the area of conflict.

Donny really should do something about Putin someday.

[artemisia1]

12. Iran's geography, as mountainous as it is, favors hiding. I doubt they are taking out many and much are likely decoys.

[oasis]

15. Dunderhead Don owns this entire mess.

The “I alone can fix it guy”.