NATO's response to Russian drones reveals glaring issue with Europe's air defenses

NATO's downing of Russian drones in Polish airspace this week was touted as a major success by the military alliance, after it mustered an international force using some of the most advanced technology in the world to defend its borders.

But the incident has actually highlighted a major flaw in NATO and Europe's defenses — they don't have an effective way to shoot down Russia's cheap, mass produced drones.

"Given the increasing mass deployment of loitering munitions and relatively inexpensive drones, a different approach is required to ensure the cost-effectiveness of the entire air defense network," Rafal Lipka, defense and security analyst at Poland's Pulaski Foundation, told the Kyiv Independent.

Poland confirmed downing Russian drones in its airspace overnight on Sept. 10, marking the first time NATO has engaged the Kremlin's military assets during the full-scale war in Ukraine.

At least 19 drones entered the Polish airspace, and between three and four were shot down by Polish and NATO aircraft in what Warsaw denounced as a deliberate provocation.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte on Sept. 10 praised the performance of air defenses, describing it as the "successful… defense of NATO territory."

He then listed both the countries and equipment involved in the operation.

"This included Polish F-16s, Dutch F-35s, Italian AWACS, NATO Multi Role Tanker Transport, and German Patriots," he said.

But while this multi-billion dollar list of the West's finest military equipment is impressive, there's one major problem — the Russian drones it was used to down cost a fraction of the price.

A single Patriot system costs upwards of $1 billion, an F-35 around $82.5 million,    and a NATO Multi Role Tanker Transport upwards of $150 million — and this is before running costs.

According to reports, three of the drones were shot down using AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles which cost around $400,000 each.

A Polish army official told Reuters that at least some of the drones were Gerbera drones, a cheap, Russian version of Shahed drones made with plywood and foam and often equipped with small warheads and mass-produced in a factory in the Tatarstan region of Russia alongside other models of kamikaze drone.

Their estimated cost is just $10,000.

❗️Russians show one of the workshops for the production of 🇮🇷Iranian Shahed UAVs at a factory in 🇷🇺Yelabuga (Tatarstan)

A commentator in the background actively talks about the involvement of women and school-age children in production. pic.twitter.com/RdQq6vTTYs

— 🪖MilitaryNewsUA🇺🇦 (@front_ukrainian) July 20, 2025

"The most sophisticated anti-aircraft and anti-ballistic missiles are expensive and should not be expended on low-cost, simple targets such as those seen in the ongoing war in Ukraine," Lipka said.

Ukraine was forced to learn this lesson years ago — facing ever escalating Russian aerial attacks using missiles and drones , Kyiv quickly realized that the most modern and cutting edge Western air defense systems were entirely unsuited to countering the drone threat.

One NASAM missile costs from $600,000 to $1 million. A Patriot missile is nearly $4 million and the U.S. only produces 600 a year. Even a relatively cheap IRIS-T missile is still around $450,000.

With over 800 drones launched in the latest mass attack on Ukraine, countering them with missile-based air defense systems is simply not feasible.

Ukraine has relied on systems like the German-made Gepard and the more basic and not always effective tactic of shooting them down with large 50-caliber machine guns mounted on trucks.

Electronic warfare countermeasures have sparked an arms race of sorts as both sides strive to stay ahead of the latest technological developments.

But these have not been enough to fully counter the ever-increasing drone swarms, and Ukraine has had to innovate with new technologies, most notably interceptor drones.

The core advantage of an interceptor drone is precision on a budget. The Prytula Foundation in a June 13 Facebook post demonstrated the shooting down of a Gerbera with a drone it said costs just under $2,000.

A number of different projects are in development and the Ukrainian government has contracted "tens of thousands" of interceptor drones, director of the Defense Procurement Agency, Arsen Zhumadilov, said in an interview published on July 14.

But so far Europe has shown little interest in such technologies beyond helping Ukraine develop them for its own use.

"Addressing this threat calls for the large-scale deployment of dedicated anti-drone systems," Lipka said.

"Poland must accelerate the procurement of such systems while ensuring that the domestic defense industry can meet the Ministry of Defense’s requirements in terms of quality and production capacity."

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The Kyiv IndependentFrancis Farrell