America’s Middle Eastern allies are contending with a new reality. One in which Iran, whatever ceasefire or arrangement is reached to end the current war, will pose a growing and persistent threat. Iran has learned that its drones and missiles afford it massive leverage to blackmail or otherwise attack regional targets. Nations like Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the UAE, and Kuwait are most concerned with future Iranian attacks on their ports and energy plants.

Conventional interceptors can’t fill this gap. They are too few in supply, with supply bottlenecks restricting future resupply. They are also very expensive. In contrast, the Iranian-designed Shahed-style loitering drone costs roughly $20,000 and arrives in swarms. To address this mismatch, the United States and the Sunni monarchies should look at the example of Ukraine. At the start of the war in Feb. 2022, the Ukrainians realized expensive radars and missiles should be saved for ballistic threats, and built a cheap, layered web for everything else.