There was a murmur before the explosion. An air vehicle moves through a cloudless sky towards its target at Camp Buehring, a US military base in Kuwait. It hit near a running track with a huge plume of black smoke.
“Oh s—t,” said a man recording from the base. “Oh my God. Oh, he was right here. They’re messing around…they’re starting to dial into our building.”
The video ends as smoke billows out of the desert outpost.
The footage of the attack, posted online on March 1 but possibly filmed earlier, is one of more than 30 open-source videos and satellite images verified by NBC News that show Iranian drone strikes and interceptions by the US and its allies in seven countries. Obvious targets include military bases, transportation hubs, energy infrastructure and diplomatic centres. In 21 out of 26 videos, the drones are seen reaching their targets.
Videos posted on various online platforms reveal a pattern of inadequate security for strategic locations targeted by drones since the beginning of the war. As the US and Israel bombed Iran with the stated goal of eliminating its nuclear, ballistic and drone capabilities, Iran retaliated using its arsenal of missiles and low-explosive drones.
Drones are a new challenge for the US, its allies and the countries caught in the crossfire. Opponents will keep a close eye on America’s reaction.
Experts say the weapon’s versatility could allow Iran to prolong the war by putting pressure on enemy resources, an attractive strategy for cash-strapped states. Iran is a leader in technology, which sold to russia This poses a challenge to the economics of war following a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. While the US maintains its air dominance, Iran’s drone campaign has forced targeted countries to use expensive weapons for interception.
“It’s kind of the ultimate symbol of asymmetric warfare,” said Joe Dyke, director of programs for AirWars, a nonprofit that tracks civilian damage in conflict zones.
While drones can be shot down by a variety of weapons, including heavy machine guns, fighter jets and advanced interceptors, they can weaken air defenses and even one such aircraft can cause lethal damage.
a drone attack killed six American soldiers At the civil port of Shuaiba in Kuwait. Video verified by NBC News shows others have bombed oil infrastructure and logistics centers. Some drones have attacked US consulates and embassies in the Gulf countries, causing passersby to gasp and film the jaw-dropping images. An oil storage facility in Oman was attacked twice: once last week and again this week, underscoring the ongoing vulnerability of critical targets.
The US does not release data about the weapons it intercepts or encounters. Data from the United Arab Emirates, which has been hit hard by Iranian attacks, says 1,475 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) were fired upon in the country as of March 10 and 1,385 were intercepted.
The United Arab Emirates, one of the worst-affected Gulf countries, has reported six deaths and 122 injuries as a result of the conflict as of March 11. Israel has reported 13 deaths. According to the Iranian Red Crescent Society, more than 1,200 people have been killed in US-Israeli attacks in Iran.
According to the Weapons Tracking Project, the most frequently deployed drone by Iran is the Shaheed-136. Open Source Munitions Portal (OSMP). OSMP says that with a wingspan of 11.5 feet, it is capable of flying about 1,200 miles and carrying up to 110 pounds of weapons guided by a satellite navigation system. Drones are pre-programmed to fly to a specific target and operate without a pilot.
In the early days of the war, General Dan Kane, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said, “The threat from unilateral attack UAVs remains a constant threat.”
Since then, the US has published videos of drone interceptions and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth claimed in a briefing on Friday that the number of drone strikes has declined.
“CENTCOM continues to attack ballistic missile and drone capabilities so that they no longer pose a threat to us, our forces, our bases, or our partners,” Caine said at the same briefing.
The US is one of more than 10 countries to formally request help from Ukraine, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who said in a post on social media that Ukraine has sent three teams to the Middle East.
According to a post by Zelensky on social media at the time, the Trump administration’s official request came six days after the start of the US-Israeli war on Iran, while Ukraine had offered it months earlier. Ukraine has about four years of experience in dealing with weapons, which it has gained at the cost of destroyed infrastructure and civilian lives while pleading air defense.
“Ukraine can contribute to stabilization,” Zelensky said at a news conference in France on Friday.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has apologized for some of the attacks. In an interview with Al Jazeera, he said that some of the attacks were not coming directly from the country’s top command.
“In fact, our military units are now independent and somewhat isolated and they are operating on the basis of general instructions already given to them,” he said.
In other interviews, Araghchi said that Iran is preparing for this war and a possible ground invasion by US troops.
According to OSMP, the marten was first seen in 2019. It gained popularity when Russia purchased the technology from Iran in November 2022 and the Shaheed-136 model has been improved since then.
An NBC News analysis of online videos of martyr-type attacks shows that most of them have occurred on the Persian Gulf coast. Kelly Grieco, a senior fellow at the Stimson Center, a Washington think tank, said drones may be more difficult to detect as they approach the coastline, depending on detection radar placement in the bay. This may also point to a bigger plan of Iran.
“Now in this second week, the goal set is very much the same, and they’re attacking things again,” Grieco said. “There is real coherence to their strategy.”
In one video, a drone follows its pre-programmed path to an oil storage tank in Oman, the second such attack on the facility.
A beachgoer in Dubai filmed another video, showing a buzzing drone flying inland while a warplane swoops in behind it, and releasing an intercept missile moments later.
Verified video shows drones have reached Azerbaijan and are bombing the airport in Nakhchivan. Azerbaijan is not a party to the conflict and has demanded an apology from Iran, which has denied responsibility.
Attacks by primitive drones and more sophisticated ballistic missiles have paralyzed both air and sea traffic in the vital oil-rich region. The strategically important Strait of Hormuz is effectively closed to traffic. Air travel in the Persian Gulf region has been heavily affected, according to data from global tracking service Flight Radar 24. Kuwait and Bahrain airports are completely closed to commercial flights while other areas are under heavy restrictions.
The size of Iran’s drone arsenal and production capabilities is unclear. The interception numbers released by the UAE show that attacks have decreased, but that may be a sign of regrouping and stockpiling before the next attack rather than supplies running low, said Grieco of the Stimson Center. Russia, the only other country to regularly use this type of weapon, often breaks between major bombing raids to gather more drones to drop into an attack.