Gulf states and their US partners have turned to Ukrainian-made anti-drone technology to counter drone attacks, with the Sky Map command-and-control platform deployed at Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia, according to a Reuters report cited by Al Jazeera. [1]
The report said Ukrainian officers traveled to the base to train US warfighters on the software. It described Sky Map as a Ukrainian system used to detect incoming drones. [1]
The disclosure comes after Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar in late March and signed 10-year defence agreements with all three countries, according to the report. Zelenskyy later said Ukrainian forces had taken part in active operations using domestically produced interceptor drones in several Gulf countries. [1]
The report cast the shift as a response to the spread of Iran’s Shahed-136 drone, a one-way attack drone that gained global prominence after Russia began using it in Ukraine in 2022. The drones are GPS-guided and pre-programmed to hit fixed targets, while newer versions include anti-jamming technology. [1]
Cost has also shaped the choice of defenses. The report said Shahed-136 drones cost between $20,000 and $50,000 each, while US Patriot interceptor missiles cost about $4 million each. [1]
The Shahed-136 is described as about 3.5 metres long with a wingspan of about 2.5 metres. [1]
