The United States has long prided itself on being the most technologically advanced nation in the world. We innovate. Other states imitate. 

Today, in many fields, the shoe is on the other foot. This is especially true in the field of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), or drones, where both allied and adversary nations—China, Russia, Turkey, and Ukraine—have poured resources into innovations while the United States has rested on its laurels. And one drone power has been more influential than any other: Iran, whose cheap and effective Shahed kamikaze drones have come to dominate the battlefields in Ukraine and other ongoing conflicts.

The effectiveness of the Shahed drone is apparent in its widespread adoption. Many of the world’s top military powers are lining up to purchase the drones. Russia has become reliant on them in Ukraine. Israel has come to fret over them in their airspace. Venezuela has allowed Iran to build numerous factories for them to be produced in their territory. And in a strange way, the Americans, too,

© The National Interest