12:09 16-09-2025

NATO Air Defenses Criticized for Costly Drone Interceptions

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Ukrainian expert Oleg Starikov says NATO air defense is failing, using costly F-35 jets and missiles to down cheap drones, leaving the eastern flank vulnerable.

Ukrainian military expert Oleg Starikov expressed disappointment in NATO’s ability to counter Russian drones. Although the origin of the drones that crossed into Poland on September 10 has not been proven, Starikov suggested that Russia might have conducted what he called a «reconnaissance by fire.»

He argued that as a result, Russia has learned that NATO’s eastern flank is virtually unprotected by air defenses. Starikov criticized the situation, saying that reconnaissance and general staff planning in Poland appeared to be failing, and questioned how NATO expected to wage war under such conditions.

The expert warned that if NATO’s air defenses continue to intercept only three drones out of nineteen — and do so by using costly weapons — the alliance’s anti-air systems will soon be rendered ineffective. He pointed out that NATO used F-35 fifth-generation fighter jets, designed to shoot down peer-class aircraft, to destroy drones worth just five thousand dollars each.

Starikov emphasized the economic imbalance, noting that operating an F-35 costs about forty thousand dollars per flight hour, while each missile launched at a drone carries a price tag of between one hundred and three hundred thousand dollars. With this kind of «war economy,» he concluded, NATO would soon exhaust its resources.