Why are Iranian Shahed drones so difficult to stop?

(Patria) - Cheap and deadly, Iranian-designed Shahed drones are causing significant damage in conflicts in the Middle East, and due to their ability to evade jamming and other characteristics, they are extremely difficult to stop.

These unmanned aerial vehicles, designed to explode on impact, have become a key weapon in modern warfare, posing a challenge even to the most advanced air defense systems, writes France24, as reported by Index.hr.

Shahed drones, designed to explode on impact, connect to GPS to record their location just before or after takeoff, and then usually turn off their receivers, explains Thomas Withington, a researcher at the British Royal United Services Institute (RUSI).

The aircraft then travel long distances towards the target using gyroscopes that measure their speed, direction, and position, known as an "inertial navigation system".

- The GPS signal will be jammed near any protected target. If you look at a map of GPS jamming in the Middle East, you will see that there is a lot of it - Withington told AFP.

By avoiding the use of GPS, this problem is circumvented, he explains.

- Drones can reconnect to GPS just before impact for greater accuracy, or they can remain disconnected. The system is not always extremely accurate, but it is accurate enough for its purpose - Withington points out.

Russia produces Shahed-type drones for use in the war in Ukraine.

The US Institute for Science and International Security discovered in 2023 that these drones use a "state-of-the-art anti-jamming antenna" to eliminate enemy jamming signals while maintaining the desired GPS signal.

Anti-jamming mechanisms were also found in the wreckage of an Iranian-made drone that hit Cyprus in the early days of the Middle East war, a source from the European industry told AFP.

- Although the Shahed is assembled from commercially available parts, it possesses numerous capabilities that US military GPS equipment typically has - stated Todd Humphreys, a professor of aerospace engineering at the University of Texas at Austin.

Defending against them now requires sophisticated electronic warfare equipment.

- The Shaheds have been upgraded - confirmed Yuriy Ihnat, spokesperson for the Ukrainian Air Force.

The Shahed is made of "lightweight radar-absorbing materials," such as plastic and fiberglass, according to a 2023 RUSI institute document.

Their small size and low flight altitude allow them to slip through air defense systems undetected.

Some experts believe that Iran uses multiple positioning systems, making it easier for its drones to evade jamming.

Serhii Beskrestnov, a technology advisor to the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, says Iran uses the BeiDou system, a Chinese competitor to US GPS. He adds that the Russian version of the Shahed also uses BeiDou and the Russian equivalent, GLONASS.

Others suspect that Iran might be using LORAN, a radio navigation system developed during World War II. LORAN, which does not require satellites, was largely abandoned with the advent of GPS.

However, Iran announced in 2016 that it was reviving this technology, which requires a network of large ground transmitters, although experts have not confirmed its current activity.

Armies have largely defended against Shaheds by shooting them down with artillery fire, missiles, and interceptor drones, while the United States and Israel are also developing laser systems.

However, signal jamming can also be effective, as Ukraine has demonstrated, as well as "spoofing," which involves hacking the drone's navigation system to change its destination.

According to an AFP analysis based on Ukrainian military data, Ukraine neutralized 4,652 attack drones through electronic warfare from mid-May to mid-July 2025.

This number is not far from the number of aircraft shot down by conventional means during the same period, which was 6,041.

Ukrainian experts emphasize that electronic and conventional drone defense are often used together.