Not that we've ignored drones and missiles in favour of big, thirty-year old style projects where everyone could dip their beaks and get rich of death and now we can't defend against these things. No. It's Putin I tells ya....

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/mar/12/iran-using-russian-drone-tactics-uk-defence-secretary-john-healey

Putin’s ‘hidden hand’ lies behind Iran’s drone tactics, UK defence secretary says

Senior British army officer tells John Healey Iranian pilots are flying Shaheds much lower, making them more effective

Vladimir Putin’s “hidden hand” lies behind Iran’s military methods, the UK defence secretary, John Healey, has said, after a night in which drones struck a base used by western forces in Erbil, northern Iraq.

Healey was speaking after British officers at the UK’s military headquarters in north-west London had told him that drone pilots from Iran and Iranian proxies were increasingly adopting tactics “from the Russians”.

Iran has already fired more than 2,000 Shahed drones – long-range weapons heavily used by Russia against Ukraine – across the Middle East in response to the US-Israeli attack launched on 28 February.

Lt Gen Nick Perry, the chief of joint operations, told Healey it appeared that Russia had since passed back tactical advice to Iran and its proxies on how to fly them.

Iranian drone pilots were “flying them much lower, and therefore they were more effective” in hitting targets, Perry said. That had “proven problematic”, he said, because Shahed drones were becoming one of Tehran’s more effective weapons as the conflict heads towards a third week.

Overnight, a number of drones struck a western military base in Erbil, where British military personnel were based. A UK counter drone-team there shot down two others. There were no British casualties.