US Marines test cheaper way to down Iranian drone swarms Shift from million-dollar missiles to low-cost intercepts

One of the key challenges in contemporary warfare is economic imbalance: how to neutralize a low-cost drone worth only a few thousand dollars without expending air-defense missiles that can be ten or even a hundred times more expensive. A recent US Marine Corps exercise in the Philippines, conducted near the South China Sea, highlights the direction in which US defense planners are seeking solutions.

During the drill, troops practiced intercepting fixed-wing unmanned aircraft using a mobile air-defense platform known as MADIS, the Israeli newspaper Israel Hayom reports, citing The Wall Street Journal.

The system operates on two lightweight tactical vehicles, designed as successors to the Humvee: one is equipped with an advanced radar for aerial detection, while the second carries Stinger missiles along with electronic warfare and jamming capabilities.

Rather than depending exclusively on missile interception, both vehicles are also armed with autocannons and machine guns. The concept is to provide operators with a flexible set of response options—ranging from kinetic fire to electronic disruption—so they can select the most cost-effective method depending on the threat profile.

So far, US forces operating in regions such as the Middle East have often relied on high-cost air-to-air missiles, including the AIM-120, which can reach around $1 million per unit. Even the Stinger missile used in MADIS is expensive at roughly $430,000, while Coyote interceptors deployed in some theaters cost about $100,000 each.

In contrast, Iranian Shahed-type loitering munitions are estimated to cost roughly $30,000 to produce, while smaller commercial-style drones may cost only a few thousand dollars. To narrow this disparity, US forces are increasingly turning to specialized 30 mm proximity-fused ammunition designed to detonate near a target without requiring a direct hit.

Defense analysts estimate that even if several such rounds are required per drone, the total cost could remain around $11,000. This type of ammunition is being positioned as a practical fallback option when electronic warfare systems are unable to disrupt or disable incoming unmanned threats.

By Jeyhun Aghazada