Drone Warfare and Air Defense

Reporting shows that President Zelensky presented a detailed August 18, 2025, proposal at the White House offering Ukraine’s low‑cost interceptor drones and an anti‑Shahed toolkit to protect U.S. forces and allies, but U.S. officials then took no action for roughly seven months — a delay some U.S. officials later called a major tactical miscalculation. After Washington formally requested help, Kyiv quickly dispatched interceptor drones and a team of drone specialists to protect U.S. bases in Jordan, highlighting the stark cost gap between cheap Shahed drones (about $20,000–$50,000) and U.S. interceptors like PAC‑3 MSE missiles (around $3.8 million each).