The U.S. and Persian Gulf countries want to buy Ukrainian interceptor drones to fight ‘Shahed’ drones, the FT reports

The United States and at least one Gulf state are in talks with Ukraine about purchasing Ukrainian interceptor dronesdesigned to shoot down Iranian Shahed-type attack drones.

This was reported by the Financial Times, citing representatives of Ukraine’s defense industry.

The newspaper notes that Ukraine was the first to begin using mass-produced interceptor drones—costing only a few thousand dollars—to destroy “Gerans,” the Russian versions of Shaheds that Russian forces use in large numbers to attack Ukrainian cities.

Gulf countries have been shooting down Iranian drones that cost about $30,000 using Patriot air-defense missiles, each of which costs several million dollars. Stockpiles of those missiles are also dwindling.

“Interest in Ukrainian interceptor drones capable of destroying Shaheds at a very low cost has surged,” one representative of the Ukrainian industry said, adding that any sales of Ukrainian systems must be coordinated with Kyiv.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Tuesday that he had spoken with the Emir of Qatar and the President of the UAE about using Ukrainian anti-drone technologies. He said that “any such cooperation aimed at protecting our partners is possible only if it does not weaken our own defense capabilities.”

Kyiv is concerned about its own stocks of anti-drone systems, but hopes that if Middle Eastern countries use Ukrainian interceptors instead of Patriot systems, more Patriot missiles could go to Ukraine for intercepting Russian ballistic missiles.

Zelensky has also said that Ukraine is ready to swap its interceptor drones for Patriot missiles.