US military has in recent weeks deployed Ukrainian counter-drone technology at a key American airbase in Saudi Arabia, seeking to stop attacks that have destroyed aircraft and buildings and killed at least one serviceman, Reuters reports, citing five sources familiar with the situation, writes UNN.
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"The deployment of the Ukrainian Sky Map command and control platform at Prince Sultan Air Base, which has not been previously reported, demonstrates the significant progress of the Ukrainian military in developing and countering drones, honed during four years of war with Russia," the publication states.
Ukrainian military, as the publication writes, "arrived at the base in recent weeks to train American servicemen on how to operate Sky Map, which is widely used by the Ukrainian military to detect approaching drone threats, including Iranian-designed Shahed drones, and to counterattack with interceptors."
As cheap, mass-produced drones play an important role in Russia's war in Ukraine, the Pentagon, as stated, has increased investment in counter-drone technologies. "However, the use of Ukrainian technology at Prince Sultan base, located approximately 640 kilometers from Iran, which has suffered waves of drone and missile strikes since the beginning of the war, highlights the vulnerability of the American air and missile defense system," analysts believe.
"There have long been gaps in the US air and missile defense system around the world," said Timothy Walton, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Hudson Institute think tank. "This is well known. However, the problem has not been addressed."
"This came a month after President Donald Trump publicly rejected Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's offer to help counter Iranian drone attacks," the publication writes. "We don't need their help in defending against drones," Trump told Fox News on March 6.
Last month, the Pentagon's counter-drone unit announced it had allocated $350 million to strengthen drone defenses as part of Operation "Epic Fury."