„The war in Iran has underscored that drones and cheap missiles are changing the economics of warfare and handing leverage even to weak regimes. So it's worth noting some modest progress on U.S. counter-drone capacity.
Army Secretary Dan Driscoll recently appeared on Capitol Hill, where lawmakers asked how the service is trying to blunt such novel threats.
"One of the core problems was our own bureaucracy," Mr. Driscoll said.
The Pentagon is concentrating more procurement authority and accountability in one official.
"Practically what that did, is it took us from, like, a 16-step decision-making process where each of the bodies along those 16 steps could veto it and start it back over we consolidated it down." And "so when the conflict" in Iran "kicked off, within about eight days, we were able to go purchase" some 13,000 counter-drone systems known as Merops. Public details on that system are sparse, but it's U.S. technology assisted by artificial intelligence.
Yes, 13,000 is a rookie number in drone warfare.
But the systems are "about $15,000 a piece right now. We think as they scale, they'll get to less than ten. And we're able to take [Iran's Shahed drones] down" that cost $30,000 to $50,000, "which is amazing because that puts us on the right end of the cost curve."
For all the justified haranguing of Pentagon weapons buying, the U.S. can still move fast when it wants to. The Trump Administration is trying to institute acquisition reforms, and the test is whether it can force change on the bureaucratic culture.
Scaling new tech is a core reason to pass President Trump's $1.5 trillion military budget. "We need a crash program for a high-low mix in munitions," including offensive fires and interceptors, GOP Sen. Roger Wicker said at a recent hearing. The Trump Pentagon is expanding production lines for missiles like Patriot and Tomahawk, but Mr. Wicker said less than 3% of the current munitions acceleration effort is marked for low-cost munitions." [1]
Are the magnets for counter-drone systems known as Merops coming from China? Why China is allowing it?
Merops Origin: Merops is a US-origin system developed under Project Eagle, backed by former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, designed for cost-effective drone interception in Ukraine and the Middle East.
Magnet Dependence: Reports indicate that even advanced Western defense systems and drones often rely on Chinese-processed rare earth magnets.
Why China Allows It: China dominates the global rare earth market, controlling the majority of mining and processing capacity. This dominance makes it difficult for Western nations to decouple quickly, allowing China to profit from supplying components used in global, including Western, defense technology.
The Chinese are selling not enough for Western defense shops. This why Iranian drones are effective against such „defense“. Swarming the drones and the missiles is the key here.
1. Turning the Tables on Iranian Drones. Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 23 Apr 2026: A14.
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