U.S., Not Israel, Shot Down Most Iran Drones and Missiles
U.S., Not Israel, Shot Down Most Iran Drones and Missiles
American forces did most of the heavy lifting responding to Iran’s retaliation for the attack on its embassy in Damascus.
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According to Israeli sources, the defense was very costly for Israel. "Israel's interception of hundreds of Iranian missiles and drones overnight has cost Tel Aviv around $1.35 billion (up to 5 billion shekels), Israeli media reported. On Sunday, the daily Yedioth Ahronoth quoted Brig. Gen. Ram Aminach, the former financial advisor to the Israeli chief of staff, as saying that “the cost of defence last night was estimated at between 4-5 billion shekels ($1.08-1.35B).”
What I'm wondering is: if the US did most of the interception, is the price tag for that to US taxpayers included in that quote or did they pay even more? The USA pays for a lot of Israel's Iron Dome defense to start, so what's the final price tag for Americans?
Edit: I kept looking but couldn't find any info beyond different versions of what I already linked. I guess it's just a question to think about for now. For me, the large expense is yet another reason among several why Israel should let not continue this back-and-forth with Iran.
How much do the drones cost Iran? $10M a piece to take them down is crazy expensive. If Iran can churn these out at $1m a pop, they can out produce the defense.
I don't have a source for the drones or missiles used in this recent attack, but Forbes has an article from February titled, "$375,000 - The Sticker Price For An Iranian Shahed Drone". "Its delta-winged Shahed-131/136 variants are believed to have a range of approximately 500 to 900 miles." and "The documents show that a single Shahed costs $375,000 to produce." I'm not sure that's long enough of a range to make it to the Israeli targets though, so take it with a grain of salt.
The New Arab's article today about cost reports, "It is not known how much Iran spent on its attacks, though ballistic missiles in the country can cost up to $99,937 (₤80,000), The Guardian said."
Politico has an article from December called "A $2M missile vs. a $2,000 drone: Pentagon worried over cost of Houthi attacks". "The cost of using expensive naval missiles — which can run up to $2.1 million a shot — to destroy unsophisticated Houthi drones — estimated at a few thousand dollars each — is a growing concern, according to three other DOD officials." and “The cost offset is not on our side,” said one DOD official." I'm guessing those are the bottom end drones and likely not capable of crossing the distance between Iran and Israel. It does give an idea of how much it might cost for Iranian-backed groups closer to Israel to use drones in the future though.
It's hard to estimate the cost, as it is internal to Iran and a government effort. But in general, air defense tends to be more expensive than whatever it is shooting down. In this case, I am certain it is orders of magnitude difference. Iran's economy is in shambles, so they focus on cheap weaponry.