Axios: US missed opportunity to buy Ukrainian anti-drone tech before Iran strikes

Nearly seven months ago, Ukrainian officials offered the United States their battle-tested technology for countering Iranian-made attack drones, but the Trump administration initially dismissed the proposal. The offer included a detailed PowerPoint presentation — obtained exclusively by Axios — outlining how the technology could protect American forces and allies in a potential Middle East conflict.

US officials reversed course last week as Iranian drone strikes exceeded expectations, highlighting what one official described as “one of the biggest tactical miscalculations by the administration since the bombing of Iran began on February 28.”

Iran’s inexpensive Shahed drones have been linked to the deaths of seven US service members and have cost the US and its partners millions of dollars to intercept. 

“If there's a tactical error or a mistake we made leading up to this [war in Iran], this was it,” a US  official told Axios.

Ukraine, which has gained extensive experience combating Shahed drones in its ongoing war with Russia, has developed a low-cost interceptor drone along with other sensors and air defences. Russia has acquired and reproduced the drones, labeling them Geran drones, and deployed them extensively in its invasion of Ukraine.

At a closed-door White House meeting on August 18, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy offered the interceptor drones to President Trump to strengthen ties and “show his thanks for US  support in the face of Russian aggression,” according to one official.

The presentation included a map of the Middle East and a warning that “Iran is improving its Shahed one-way-attack drone design.” It also suggested creating “drone combat hubs” in Türkiye, Jordan, and the Persian Gulf states to protect US bases.

“We wanted to build the 'drone walls' and all the things necessary like the radar, et cetera,” a Ukrainian official said.

Despite the offer, the Trump administration took no action.

“At that meeting ... in August, Trump asked his team to work on it, but they have done nothing,” the Ukrainian official added.

A US official who reviewed the PowerPoint said Zelenskyy’s proposal may have been dismissed because he was seen by some as “too much of a self-promoter of a client state that doesn't command enough respect.”

“We figured it was Zelensky being Zelensky. Somebody decided not to buy it,” the official said.

On March 5, the US formally requested Ukrainian anti-drone assistance, according to The New York Times. The urgency is underscored by a recent Iranian/Russian Shahed drone strike on an American command centre in Kuwait, which killed six US soldiers on the second day of the conflict.

The drones are also causing widespread damage to civilian infrastructure across the Middle East, prompting several Gulf countries to solicit Kyiv’s advice and explore purchasing Ukraine’s lower-cost interceptors.

By Sabina Mammadli