Archive · 12 Aug 2026
Iran's Missile-Drone Tactics Expose US Air Defense Weakness
Iran is a country that sometimes sends missiles and flying robots called drones at other places.
When Iran sends missiles and drones together, it is much harder for defenders to stop them.
Air defense is the name for the systems that shoot down attacking weapons.
Seth G Jones is an expert who studies safety and security at a center that gives advice to world leaders.
He spoke to The New York Times, a very big newspaper.
He said Iran learned a special trick from Russia.
That trick is to send many missiles and drones at the same time, so defenders get confused.
Because of this, it is hard to protect places around the Gulf, a big body of water near Iran.
The United States guards that area, but this new trick makes its defenses weaker.
Experts now worry about how to keep that area safe.
Iran is employing a combination of missiles and drones that makes air defense increasingly difficult.
Seth G Jones of the Center for Strategic and International Studies made the assessment to The New York Times.
Jones said Iran has effectively leveraged the Russian tactic of mixing missiles and drones.
The approach makes it more difficult to protect locations across the Gulf.
According to the article, Tehran's tactics have exposed a weakness in US air defense.
- Who
- Iran, whose military has employed combined missile and drone attacks, and Seth G Jones of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, who analyzed the tactics for The New York Times.
- What
- Iran's combination of missiles and drones, a tactic leveraged from Russia, is making air defense increasingly difficult and has exposed a US air defense weakness.
- When
- Not specified in the article.
- Where
- Locations across the Gulf, where protection is becoming more difficult.
- Why
- Because Iran has effectively adopted Russian-style mixed missile and drone tactics that complicate and overwhelm air defense efforts.
- Subject
- Iran's combined missile and drone attack tactics
- Key Analyst
- Seth G Jones, president of the defense and security department at CSIS
- Reporting Outlet
- The New York Times
- Tactic Cited
- Combination of missiles and drones, leveraged from Russian tactics
- Stated Impact
- Air defense is increasingly difficult; protecting Gulf locations is harder
- Region Affected
- The Gulf
- Exposed Weakness
- US air defense weakness