Advanced fighter jets have been mobilised across the Gulf this month to hunt down enemies they were never designed to fight: waves of slow-moving and low-flying attack drones fired by Iran. Fighters have been the Gulf nations’ main means of intercepting drones, analysts and western officials said. But while they have been highly effective, this round-the-clock fighter defence has come at high cost both financially and for the overworked pilots and planes. “It is not sustainable in the long run in any way, shape or form,” said Lauren Kahn, a former Pentagon adviser now with the Center for Security and Emerging Technologies in Washington. The Gulf states and their allies face a stark problem: Iran’s drones are cheap, but using fighter planes to defeat them is ferociously expensive.

Full report : Gulf states’ reliance on jets to battle waves of cheap Shaheds is testing their finances, pilots and planes.