Ukrainian military advisers sent to the Middle East at CENTCOM’s request came away stunned by what they saw in the Persian Gulf. According to The Times, Ukrainian officers were struck by how freely some Gulf states use Patriot interceptors, sometimes firing as many as eight missiles at a single target — including relatively cheap drones.

For an Israeli audience, this is not just another story about a distant theater of war. It goes to the heart of how America’s allies learn — or fail to learn — from the most intensive real-world missile and drone war of the modern era. And if those lessons continue to be ignored, the consequences will not stop at Ukraine.

Why Ukraine was shocked by Gulf air-defense tactics

An extremely expensive answer to a very cheap threat

A senior Ukrainian Air Force officer, speaking anonymously to The Times, said that in Gulf countries as many as eight Patriot missiles can be launched at a single target. That includes low-cost drones whose price bears no comparison to the interceptor missiles used to destroy them.

Each Patriot missile in question costs more than $3 million. When a package of missiles at that price is used against a drone worth a fraction of the amount, the issue stops being purely military. It becomes economic, too. In a prolonged war, that kind of arithmetic begins to work against the defender.

Ukrainian air-defense crews, the officer said, operate very differently. They usually fire one or two missiles, even against Russian ballistic threats. Effectiveness still depends on the circumstances — flight path, density of attack, enemy tactics, timing. But the principle is different:........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)