By Halyna Hergert | 2026-03-17

When Iran unleashed waves of drones and missiles on Gulf states this month, Russian Pantsir air defense systems, sold to Saudi Arabia and the UAE as the answer to exactly this threat, struggled to cope. But Ukraine, which has been absorbing the same weapons for more than three years, holds the answer.

"According to estimates by different experts, Iran's storage facilities hold between 40,000 and 80,000 drones of different types," Valeriy Romanenko, an aviation expert and senior researcher at Ukraine's National Aviation University, told Kontur, adding that there are not enough missiles in the world to shoot down these drones in the air.

Paradoxically, it is Russia's full-scale war in Ukraine itself that has provided a solution to this problem.

"A country [Ukraine] that a few years ago was viewed by many people in the [Persian Gulf] region as far away and little understood is now providing security for American bases and the Arabian monarchies," Ihor Petrenko, a political scientist and head of the Kyiv think tank United Ukraine, told Kontur.

An ecosystem, not a weapon

Ukraine's interception rate against Iranian Shahed drones, which Russia calls Geran, or Geranium, and regularly uses to strike Ukrainian infrastructure, now exceeds 80%, achieved with low-cost interceptor drones.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, speaking at a March 12 press conference in Bucharest, said Iran and Russia have been military allies for years: Iranian operators launched the first Shaheds themselves because Russians needed training, and Tehran has since supplied roughly 150,000 artillery shells and missiles to Moscow.

That bitter experience has made Ukraine the world's most battle-tested authority on countering the threat.

Romanenko said the key lies in the architecture of the entire defensive operation -- not any single weapon. The system has three components: acoustic detection sensors that track drones without radar and cost a fraction of conventional systems; a target distribution system capable of managing swarms of hundreds of incoming drones simultaneously; and layered destruction. Ukraine has worked all three out in practice and can now export the entire package.

"We can offer these systems to other countries," Romanenko said. "We have operator-training schools, including some that deliver instruction in English. In two weeks we can train drone operators and give them training methods."

The blueprint covers the full anti-drone dome: "how many layers there should be, what the density of the defense systems should be, and which systems are best to use to defend different sites," he said.

Lessons in doing more with less

Konstantin Krivolap, an aviation expert and former test engineer at Ukraine's Antonov aircraft company, told Kontur that Ukraine has undergone a technological spurt that until recently seemed impossible -- forced to fight in conditions of limited resources where every mistake carries a steep price.

"We were told that we were putting together a 'zoo' because we had things from different outdated air defense systems. Hats off to our air defense troops that were able to gather all of this and build on it to create a single system," he said.

The global weapons market faces a severe imbalance: the combined ballistic missile stockpile of Russia, Iran and North Korea is estimated at around 10,000 missiles, while Western countries have limited capacity to manufacture anti-ballistic interceptors. Ukraine's experience offers a practical corrective, including on cost efficiency.

"We can also share information on how to save money, and how to avoid launching two missiles and instead destroy a ballistic weapon with one missile," Krivolap said.

A new diplomatic card

The arrangement carries risks. Sending specialists and equipment abroad means fewer resources at Ukraine's own front, and critics argue that allied personnel should train inside Ukraine rather than the other way around. Petrenko acknowledged the tension, including the risk of technology leaks.

But for a country that has spent more than three years asking the world for help, the strategic upside may outweigh it.

"When the Ukrainians are defending your sky from Iranian drones that were gathered with Russia's involvement, the geopolitical map of the world is no longer an abstraction," Petrenko said.

He added that Kyiv's position carries a broader significance -- one that goes beyond the Persian Gulf. Countries in the region have traditionally leaned toward Russia, and Ukraine's role as a security provider is reshaping those alignments in ways that would have been unimaginable before the full-scale war.

"For the first time during the full-scale war, Ukraine is in a position to offer the world its own security services and not just ask for help. And that could be one of Ukraine's most important diplomatic achievements in the whole war," Petrenko said.