Iran conflict 2026: CENTCOM commander says Iran no longer uses cheap UAVs

A still from a video released in the name of the Abu al-Hashim al-Iraqi group shows an Iranian Hadid-110 one-way-attack UAV before launch. The video claimed this and other UAVs were launched against Kuwait on 9 April in retaliation for an attack on Basra. (Abu al-Hashim al-Iraqi )

Iran is no longer using low-cost unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), Admiral Brad Cooper, the commander of US Central Command (CENTCOM), said when he appeared before the Congressional armed services committees on 19 and 20 May.

“I'd like to use the opportunity to myth-bust on drones,” he told the Senate Armed Services Committee. “The days of USD35,000 drones that we saw in the last couple of years, particularly in the fight against the Houthis in Yemen, those days are behind us.

“Today we face an increased threat from drones that are highly sophisticated: they are jet powered, they have high-end sensors, they have electronic warfare, they have signals intelligence. So the days of using high-value defences to shoot down cheap targets are behind us.”

He reiterated the point later, saying, “Iran has a very capable drone force, we have very capably defeated it.”

Adm Cooper stated that Iran's defence industrial base was degraded by 90% in the strikes carried out by the United States and Israel from 28 February until the ceasefire on 8 April. “Iran wont be able to reconstitute those weapons for years,” he said.

He added that, while Iranian UAVs have become more expensive, CENTCOM has “flipped the cost curve” by using low-cost one-way-attack (OWA) UAVs against Iran. “There is always work to be done but I like where we are in this regard,” he said.

For more, please see: Pentagon releases details on new LUCAS drone