Elon Musk Can Join Up With Ukraine Forces To Shoot Down Iran’s Drones

BusinessAerospace & DefenseElon Musk Can Join Up With Ukraine Forces To Shoot Down Iran’s DronesByKevin Holden Platt,Contributor.Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. Kevin Holden Platt writes on space defense, SpaceX, ISS, Space War I Follow AuthorJun 16, 2026, 06:12pm EDT--:-- / --:--This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more.This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more.SummaryIran is threatening Elon Musk's SpaceX operations across the Middle East, including Starlink, alleging its use by US and Israeli forces. Space defense scholar Brian Hurley suggests Iran mirrors Russia's targeting of commercial space infrastructure, reflecting a deepening Iran-Russia alliance against Western interests. Hurley proposes SpaceX partner with Ukraine, a world leader in drone warfare, to develop and deploy cost-effective counter-drone defenses. Ukraine's battlefield experience combined with SpaceX's autonomous flight, AI, and manufacturing capabilities could enable them to dominate the autonomous drone defense market. This collaboration could protect Mideast outposts from Iranian threats, even amidst potential truces, as commercial satellite networks become strategic targets.Show More By joining forces with Ukrainian designers to craft next-generation drones and interceptors, SpaceX could take the worldwide lead in this sphere of defense technology. Shown here is the leading-edge but expensive $4 million American Patriot missile. (Photo by John Tlumacki/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)Boston Globe via Getty ImagesWhile Iran’s radical regime is threatening to strike the operations of trillionaire Elon Musk across the Mideast, SpaceX’s founder could swiftly turn the tables by teaming up with Ukraine’s defense-tech inventors to begin shooting down the Islamic Republic’s drones, says a world-leading space defense scholar.On the eve of the SpaceX IPO that transformed Musk into the globe’s first trillion-dollar t...