The US military is spending $1m to shoot down Iran’s $20,000 drones. Here’s why

NewsWorldMiddle EastThe US military is spending $1m to shoot down Iran’s $20,000 drones. Here’s whyIran’s cheap drones are causing one of the biggest national security headaches for the US militaryAaron Brynildson The Conversation Wednesday 22 April 2026 11:47 BSTBookmarkCommentsGo to commentsBookmark popoverRemoved from bookmarksClose popover{"translations":{"comments":"Go to comments","share":"Share","copyLink":"Copy link","bookmark":"Bookmark","removeBookmark":"Remove bookmark"},"showComments":true,"showBookmark":true,"articleId":"b2962595","articleMeta":{"url":"https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/iran-us-war-shahed-drone-interceptor-b2962595.html","title":"The US military is spending $1m to shoot down Iran’s $20,000 drones. Here’s why"}}CloseKremlin complains of ‘media lies’ over report Russia delivering drones to IranOn The Ground newsletter: Get a weekly dispatch from our international correspondentsGet a weekly dispatch from our international correspondentsGet a weekly international news dispatchEmail*SIGN UPI would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice{"className":"sc-1ge0fwe-0","newsletterData":{"regSourceNewsletter":"IND_On_The_Ground_Newsletter","regTitle":"On The Ground","subscriptionGroup":"on_the_ground","subscriptionGroupId":"14806361-6435-4d19-b06e-05326605fb01","pathPrefix":["/news/world/europe","/news/world/middle-east","/news/world/australasia","/news/world/africa","/asia"],"associatedAuthors":["Bel Trew","Sam Kiley"],"title":"On The Ground newsletter: Get a weekly dispatch from our international correspondents","mobileTitle":"Get a weekly international news dispatch","lengthenedMobileTitle":"Get a weekly dispatch from our international correspondents","imageSrc":"https://static.independent.co.uk/static-assets/images/newsletters/onTheGround1_1.png","newsletterKey":"receiveOnTheGround","regSourceSection":"Middle East","regSourceMethod":"NSCs"}}It may sound hard to believe,...