{"id":206550,"date":"2026-04-05T06:44:33","date_gmt":"2026-04-05T06:44:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/ukraines-anti-drone-tech-is-in-high-demand-as-iran-attacks-its-neighbors-nbc-news\/"},"modified":"2026-04-05T06:44:33","modified_gmt":"2026-04-05T06:44:33","slug":"ukraines-anti-drone-tech-is-in-high-demand-as-iran-attacks-its-neighbors-nbc-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/ukraines-anti-drone-tech-is-in-high-demand-as-iran-attacks-its-neighbors-nbc-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Ukraine's anti-drone tech is in high demand as Iran attacks its neighbors – NBC News"},"content":{"rendered":"

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KYIV, Ukraine \u2014 As the conflict in the Middle East escalates, Ukraine could prove to be an invaluable trove of battle-tested expertise from its own bitter and costly fight against Russia.
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After months of pressure and hardened rhetoric <\/a>from Washington aimed at ending the war<\/a> in Ukraine, Kyiv is now also fielding requests for help as Iran\u2019s Gulf neighbors grapple with the modern reality of drone warfare.
Hotels, airports and residential buildings have been hit in cities across the Gulf, wreaking havoc as Iran targets the U.S. military bases hosted by its neighbors. It\u2019s a picture all too familiar in Ukraine, whose skies are swarmed by hundreds of Russian drones on a nightly basis, many of them of the Shahed type designed in Iran<\/a>.
Kyiv\u2019s forces deflect the majority of them every night, not with expensive air defense missiles \u2014 as many countries in the Middle East have done \u2014 but with much cheaper and more effective interceptor drones, technology honed and perfected by four years of intense drone warfare.
The raging war <\/a>has made Ukraine a unique \u201cecosystem\u201d that allows for real-time testing of innovative drone technology on the battlefield, said Marko Kushnir, a spokesperson for General Cherry, one of Ukraine\u2019s top drone manufacturers.
\u201cThe feedback loop between the front and the manufacturer is very short,\u201d Kushnir said. \u201cWe can get feedback in the morning, and in the evening have a solution that will be tackling new tasks on the battlefield.\u201d
Created in 2023 by a group of veterans and volunteers, the Kyiv-based company produces close to 100,000 drones a month, Kushnir said. One of its flagship interceptor drones specifically stops Shaheds and is actively used by Ukraine\u2019s armed forces, he added. The company was invited to take part in the Pentagon\u2019s $1 billion Drone Dominance initiative before the Iran war broke out.
It\u2019s a level of expertise that Ukraine has paid heavily for, Kushnir said \u2014 \u201cwith lives, territory and a very long war with a bigger, better-resourced enemy.\u201d
There are two countries in the world that understand from experience how to fight a daily, grinding technological war with drones, he said. \u201cThat\u2019s us and Russia,\u201d Kushnir added.
Ukraine\u2019s allies recognize that now, he said.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy<\/a> said earlier this week that he received nearly a dozen requests from the U.S. and countries in the Middle East and Europe for \u201cUkraine\u2019s experience in protecting lives, relevant interceptors, electronic warfare systems, and training.\u201d
Ukraine\u2019s experience in countering attack drones is \u201cirreplaceable,\u201d he said in a series of posts on X, and \u201cthe most advanced in the world.\u201d Kyiv has dispatched teams to the Middle East, Zelenskyy said on Wednesday, raising the prospect of a weapons exchange, with Ukraine desperate for air defense missiles to counter the sophisticated weapons that Russia is using against Ukrainian cities and critical infrastructure on a near daily basis.
\u201cThis is not about being involved in operations. \u200bWe are not at \u200bwar with \u2060Iran,\u201d Zelenskyy told Reuters in comments released Sunday. \u201cThis is about protection and a thorough, complete assessment on our part of how to counter the \u200bShaheds.\u201d
He \u2060said that what Ukraine will get in return for the assistance still needed to be discussed, adding: \u201cHonestly, for us today, both the technology and the funding \u2060are important.\u201d
Zelenskyy said he was unsure whether \u200bUkraine and the U.S. would sign a deal on drone cooperation. Senior U.S. officials appeared uninterested when a Ukrainian delegation made a presentation over the summer offering to share battle-tested counter-drone technology.
The Americans\u2019 attitude changed after the start of the war with Iran and Tehran\u2019s drone attacks across the Middle East, said a European official with knowledge of the matter.
\u201cThey suddenly became very interested,\u201d the official said.
In a phone interview with NBC News on Saturday,<\/a> President Donald Trump said that \u201cwe don\u2019t need help,\u201d adding that the \u201clast person we need help from is Zelenskyy.\u201d
Yuriy Ihnat, a spokesperson for Ukraine\u2019s air force, told NBC News on the phone Wednesday that between 150 and 200 Russian drones attack Ukraine on an average day, with some of the bigger attacks involving up to 700 drones.
Between 80% and 90% of those get shot down routinely, Ihnat said. \u201cThis is the experience we have, and it\u2019s the best in the world,\u201d he added. \u201cThat\u2019s why they came to us,\u201d Ihnat said, referring to countries now seeking Ukraine\u2019s support.
It wasn\u2019t always like this.
Before the full-scale Russian invasion in 2022, Ukraine\u2019s military leadership showed little interest in drone technology and treated it with skepticism, said Yaroslav Honchar, co-founder of drone innovation nonprofit Aerorozvidka. \u201cIn their eyes, a drone \u2014 next to a tank or artillery \u2014 looked like a toy. They couldn\u2019t get it into their heads that it was the way of the future,\u201d Honchar said. But that thinking has since changed, and an entire new industry has sprung out of wartime necessity, he said.
More than a dozen Ukrainian drone and defense tech companies were on a \u201croad show\u201d in the U.S. this month, scheduled before the start of the Iran war, hoping to secure U.S. investment. \u201cIn the moment of history when the world needs Ukraine\u2019s technology and capabilities the most, here we are,\u201d Ukraine\u2019s ambassador to the U.S., Olga Stefanishyna, told reporters Monday during a stop in Washington, D.C., which NBC News attended.
\u201cIt was really important for Ukraine to show that what we can offer is not a political position or concern or condolences,\u201d Stefanishyna said. \u201cWhat we can offer is the immediate action and immediate effect.\u201d
Asked if there are Ukrainians currently in the Middle East helping U.S. forces, Stefanishyna said: \u201cI don\u2019t think any of us now have the liberty to provide this information directly.\u201d
Iran has threatened Ukraine over its interventions, in line with its threats to neighboring states and European powers seen to have helped the U.S. or Israel.
Iranian MP Ebrahim Azizi, head of the National Security Commission, said on Saturday that assisting Israel with drone support makes “the entire territory of Ukraine” a “legitimate and lawful target for Iran.”
Russia, an ally of Iran\u2019s, appears to be keeping an eye on the developments.
Moscow is not \u201cgiving any assessments,\u201d Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told NBC News during a press briefing on Thursday when asked about Kyiv sending its drone teams to the Middle East. \u201cIt\u2019s rather a matter of bilateral relations between the Kyiv regime and the countries that requested such assistance,\u201d Peskov added. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova called it a \u201cpublic relations exercise\u201d for the Ukrainian leader, with Kyiv normally the one \u201cbegging\u201d for weapons. Last week, four sources told NBC News<\/a> that Moscow was providing intelligence support to Iran, including intelligence that could help Iran locate American warships.
Kushnir, the General Cherry spokesperson, said his company has been approached by private entities and governments in the Middle East for help. That help would involve not just the sale of drones, he said, but the supporting infrastructure they require \u2014 things like batteries and maintenance protocols \u2014 and most importantly, the experience of using them. \u201cWe can quickly train their military to use this product in their conditions,\u201d he said.
But Honchar said it\u2019s hard to say if Ukraine\u2019s drone experience can just be dropped into the Middle East. It\u2019s a smart diplomatic move to offer this expertise, he said, but \u201cwe have our own context, and just copying it won\u2019t work.\u201d
While any partnerships could generate new sources of revenue for Kyiv to sustain its fight at home, Honchar stressed there is more at stake.
\u201cWe have been in this position \u2014 we were attacked and we had to beg the world for help,\u201d he said. \u201cNow it has happened to others, so Ukraine\u2019s dedication is reminding the world that it\u2019s not all about cynical calculations but principles of morality that are still in place and are worth fighting for.\u201d
Daryna Mayer is an NBC News producer and reporter based in Kyiv, Ukraine.
Yuliya Talmazan is a reporter for NBC News Digital, based in London.
© 2026 NBCUniversal Media, LLC<\/p>\n

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news AlertsThere are no new alerts at this timeKYIV, Ukraine \u2014 As the conflict in the Middle East escalates, Ukraine could prove to be an invaluable trove of battle-tested expertise from its own bitter and costly fight against Russia.Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.After months of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":206551,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-206550","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206550","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=206550"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206550\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/206551"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=206550"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=206550"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=206550"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}