Iran’s Drone Strategy (Part 1): Wartime Performance and Adaptations ..by Farzin Nadimi 

The war has shown that Iran’s one-way attack drones are highly adaptable tools of coercion and military effect, able to continue imposing costs across the Gulf region and beyond even after heavy losses.

washington institute. / by Farzin Nadimi

• Farzin Nadimi, a Senior Fellow with The Washington Institute, is a Washington-based analyst specializing in the security and defense affairs of Iran and the Persian Gulf region.

According to recent U.S. military estimates, as much as 85 percent of Iran’s drone arsenal and associated industrial base was damaged or destroyed during Operation Epic Fury. Yet the conflict has also clarified what makes the regime’s drone program so dangerous: an operational approach built around mass dispersal, repetitive attack pace over a long period, and the ability to produce strategic effects even with limited success in penetrating enemy air defenses. As the crisis continues, the most pressing questions are clear: What elements of the drone program has Iran lost? What has it preserved? And how will the remaining elements most likely be used if fighting resumes in the near future? ….

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