World News

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/51812132

Iran has launched about 500 ballistic missiles and several thousand drones at targets across the Middle East, according to publicly available data cited in the press. Considering that intercepting a single ballistic missile requires two PAC-3 missiles for the Patriot system—each costing more than $10 million—the total price tag is staggering: roughly $10 billion spent just to repel ballistic missile attacks.

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The challenge is that the primary—and only—manufacturer of PAC-3 missiles, Lockheed Martin, produced just 620 of them in 2025. Replenishing existing stocks alone would take more than a year.

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Britain has already proposed a possible solution: turning to Ukraine for help.

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To understand the scale of the challenge Ukraine faces, one number is enough: 19,000. That is how many Shahed and other drones Russia launched against Ukraine in the winter of 2025–2026 alone. The number continues to grow: more than 15,000 drones were launched during the summer of 2025. Ukrainian cities remain under constant attack, while the country’s territory is vast.

Ukraine operates a multi-layered defense system that includes anti-aircraft missiles, anti-aircraft guns, mobile fire groups, and interceptor drones. As a result, expensive PAC-3 missiles do not need to be used to intercept Russian-Iranian Shahed drones.

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