The Shahed-136, an Iranian-manufactured loitering munition built largely from foam and plywood, has emerged as a very effective weapons system. The Shahed-136 drone has demonstrated that low-cost, mass-produced aerial munitions can systematically overwhelm sophisticated and expensive air defence architectures. Iran's direct deployment of Shaheds against Israel in 2025, followed by Russia's relentless campaign averaging 140 drone strikes per day over Ukraine, established saturation as a viable operational method. Now in February 2026, the use of Shahed-136 by Iran and LUCAS by the U.S. revealed a new doctrine of attrition warfare centred on saturation and economic exhaustion.»» TDHJ ««» patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thedefencehorizon » donate: https://tdhj.org/about/#donation »» HOME ««» https://tdhj.org/ »» SOCIAL MEDIA ««» X (formerly Twitter): https://x.com/HorizonDefence » Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thedefencehorizon.org » Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedefencehorizonjournal/ » LinkedIn: The Defence Horizon Journal