Deep Bench of Counter-Drone Systems (From FOX News)

Drone Warfare: America’s Deep Bench of Counter-Drone Systems (From FOX News)

The U.S. and its allies have had their hands full with Iran’s swarms of attack drones. As FOX News anchor Jon Scott pointed out, Iran’s Shahed-136 drones are easy to produce and relatively cheap at about $20,000 apiece, and stopping them is expensive.  Highlights below from the conversation on The FOX Report on FOX News Channel, Sunday, March 8, 2026, and full clip here. 

Jon Scott: I guess the good news is that there are fewer and fewer of those shaheed drones being launched from Iran.

Rebecca Grant: Yes, the drone threat is dropping, and from a tactical perspective, Iran’s drones cannot stop Operation Epic Fury.  We have a very deep bench of counter-drone systems. it starts with our fighter jets from the aircraft carrier FORD up in the Med, all the way down the Gulf States, and then the pinpoint defenses. In addition to Patriot, there’s a whole long list, because U.S. technology has been knocking down these Iranian drones over Ukraine in the hands of Ukrainians for years. I’m talking Coyote, Vampire, NASAMS, FrankenSAM, SLAMRAAM, Merops, just a partial list of the types of counter-drone systems that may have been pushed forward, and are really taking a toll on Iran’s launch rates.

Jon Scott: The Iranians have suggested they have help from the Russians, that the Russians are are helping them, perhaps target, and find targets for these drones.

Rebecca Grant:  More than suggested.  Iran’s foreign minister has bragged about their military cooperation, but I’m telling you, Russia cannot save Iran with this information.  A couple of overhead satellites aren’t going to do it.  They may be trying to pass coordinates, or tactical characteristics, but it’s not working.  We are so able to suppress these drones, either kinetically by hitting them, or with electromagnetic jamming, that the U.S. and our allied partners really have the upper hand.  Russia is not making an impact here on a military scale.

Jon Scott: I know that the Israelis have been working on lasers that can bring down drones, and apparently, they’ve had some success.  That’s a very cheap way of intercepting very cheap drones.

Rebecca Grant: Yes, that’s one thing they’ve started to field that system.  Of course, the U.S. has researched this as well, but the big thing is, just as you point out, we need more effectors,  more interceptors. The Ukrainians have made some interceptors, too, but it is really the U.S. technology that ties together the detection, the surveillance, the tracking, and then the ability not just to hit individual drones, but to go after the drone swarms.  After this combat operation we were going to hear a lot of amazing stories from the fighter jets, including the Brits, who shot down drones including Carrier Air Wing 9 [on board LINCOLN], going across the land bases, too, and then a lot of the use of these very innovative systems.   And we’re going to see that capability grow in U.S. forces.  The good news is the drone launches really are down, it’s never going to go to zero, this is a combat zone, but the U.S. has the upper hand against these drones.

Jon Scott: Karoline Leavitt, the White House spokeswoman, says that neighboring states are angry at Iran and with good reason.  They’ve been launching those drones at their neighbors. Listen.

Karoline Leavitt (Sound on Tape):  The mere fact that Iran is now pointing their capabilities at their Gulf partners in the region who have tried to remain neutral and at peace with them for many years, they’re targeting civilians, it just underscores the point that this operation was necessary, not just to protect the American people and our assets and troops and bases in the region, but also to ensure a truly safe and prosperous Middle East for the rest of the world.

Jon Scott: So Iran, I guess they thought they were going to bring in, or you know, maybe start World War Three or something as a result of attacking their neighbors; but it’s really backfired on them has it not

Rebecca Grant: Iran’s choice to go to war with their neighbor across the Strait, the UAE, to send that many drone attacks and missile attacks, it’s unbelievable.  And they’ve attacked on an arc really all the way from Azerbaijan right down through Oman, of course all the Gulf states as well.  It’s an incredibly bad decision and I think it’s really hardened the resolve in the region, and in the world, to absolutely wipe out Iran’s military capability.  That military metric: that is the measure of success for Operation Epic Fury, and they’re doing a good job so far.

Jon Scott: U.S. Centcom is issuing a warning to Iranian citizens.  Here’s how it reads. It says “the Iranian regime is using heavily populated civilian areas to conduct military operations including launching those one way attack drones and ballistic missiles this dangerous decision risks the lives of all civilians in Iran since locations used for military purpose lose protected status and could become legitimate military targets under international law.”   They’re taking a page for what Hamas and Hezbollah have been doing, hiding military assets in civilian areas.

Rebecca Grant: Yes, and I’m glad Admiral Cooper has put that out.  That means if there is a drone launch around Esfahan, or one of Iran’s big cities, then it pops up as a dynamic target to U.S. aircraft or shooters that are in the area.  But Iran has chosen to put it near their own civilians. But as we know Jon, Iran does not care about killing their own civilians and they’re willing to risk their civilian lives again to continue these drone attacks.  The drones are scary, they cause casualties, they’ve caused damage, but they are small warheads, they are not militarily effective from a tactical perspective.  Iran is not going to stop Operation Epic Fury with these drones.