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Arabia

Export Failure: Kyiv Tries to Sell Its 'Unique Air Defense Experience' to the Arabs

2026-03-11

Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited
by Denis Davydov

[REGNUM] Amid the heated events in the Middle East, Volodymyr Zelenskyy immediately attempted to demonstrate his "military usefulness" to the United States by offering the services of Ukrainian specialists in organizing anti-drone warfare in the Persian Gulf.

After this idea was publicly announced, Western media outlets loyal to the presidential office (primarily British) immediately reported that the Americans had accepted the proposal and were already waiting with open arms in Jordan. However, no one anywhere confirmed that such an agreement even existed.

And Zelensky himself is going crazy.

At a briefing on March 8, he stated that the conversation had been general. "We have a message about how to help civilians and American troops in the Middle East. We are talking about our readiness to send experts if they are given the opportunity to provide protection," he said.

Although he himself had previously convinced the American press that the first group of Ukrainian anti-drone specialists would be heading to the Persian Gulf countries as early as March 10, and that Ukraine was ready to sell "surplus Ukrainian interceptor drones" that Arab countries were interested in purchasing. Ukrainian media reported that drones and a team of UAV experts had already arrived to protect American military bases.

The hype surrounding the importance of Ukrainian experience and the significance of Ukrainian contributions is clear to the naked eye.

The Kyiv Post and The Kyiv Independent, both foreign-focused newspapers, report on how Middle Eastern countries are lining up to sign contracts with Ukrainian manufacturers, with Saudi Arabia, in particular, targeting a major deal as early as March 11.

The BBC followed up with a quote from "one of the largest" among them, who said that the demand for interceptor drones "is just crazy right now. Everyone wants to buy them. They're willing to pay any price."

Meanwhile, official Ukrainian Air Force spokespeople are reassuring citizens that sending 10-20 specialists will help unblock the supply of missiles for the Patriot air defense systems, making it profitable. All this fuss is being presented as a way to save money on expensive ammunition: Iranian Shahed missiles, priced at $30,000, are being compared to PAC-3 missiles, which cost $13.5 million each.

"Political will, desire, sincerity in our actions, and the understanding that this is our priority are our key. This will help us be number one in the world in terms of security," Roman Pogorely, co-founder of the analytical portal DeepState, sums up the argument that Kyiv still "holds cards" for Trump.

However, all of this is easily crossed out by one circumstance: absolutely all sources of sensations are anonymous.

The White House did not respond to journalists' inquiries about whether the US had approached Ukraine for such assistance. It is unknown who in the Ukrainian government provided journalists with the startling details about the queues of people asking for assistance. And the Persian Gulf governments have never indicated any urgent desire to purchase anything from Ukrainian producers.

The only known investment still in the approval stage is the defense group EDGE, owned by the UAE sovereign wealth fund, which intends to buy a 30% stake in the infamous Fire Point company for approximately $760 million. Who these people are and why they would invest in an air manufacturer that is using defense budgets for Kvartal 95 is unknown.

However, it is known that the former casting agency that served Zelensky constantly lies to everyone about his successes.

As for the others, four out of five existing Ukrainian interceptor drones were created by private companies, unable to rapidly scale up production. Another project is a joint development with the British. And in all of them, the key element is not the machine, but the operator, who physically controls the drone and directs it to its target.

To do this, interceptors are deployed to the threatened direction, and until recently, the key element of air defense were fire teams in converted pickup trucks, firing machine guns at wide-open air like they were shooting at a penny.

Late last year, they began being deployed en masse to assault units due to their complete uselessness—all this rain of lead from the ground can do little to damage the modernized Russian attack drones. Furthermore, the mobile group crew must know in advance exactly where the target will fly and at what time.

The Ukrainian side is also deploying helicopters and fighter aircraft to combat UAVs. It was during one of these "raises" on March 9 that a colonel, commander of the 39th Tactical Aviation Brigade of Ukraine, Alexander Dovgach, was killed.

In other words, the Ukrainian experience, incredibly valuable for the entire world, lies solely in the fact that not all of the Russian flying munitions successfully reach their targets, but this has virtually no impact on the overall outcome—as the destruction of energy facilities at the beginning of the year successfully demonstrated.

Well, if the expert isn't attached to the trough of drone procurement and decommissioning, like the former UAV unit commander and well-known volunteer Yuri Kasyanov, who was expelled for theft, then things don't look so optimistic.

Because, according to Kasyanov, it is generally incorrect to compare Ukrainian drones with anti-aircraft missiles : “The PAC-3 missile is designed, first and foremost, to combat ballistic missiles, and such missiles are not used to shoot down Shaheeds.”

And the Ukrainian side actually uses them to intercept Russian Iskander and Kinzhal missiles. And the Iranian side also primarily fights with ballistic missiles.

"Even if Ukraine had managed to join forces with the anti-Iranian coalition and somehow miraculously quickly deploy not only interceptor drones but also experienced crews to the Middle East, this move would not have affected the outcome of the war," concludes the retired commander, who became famous for organizing an entire family business where his subordinates worked for free to produce drones.

So why all the fuss if even the conditions under which Ukraine is willing to rip its most valuable specialists from the front line to save the American military base haven't been clearly spelled out? Whether it's missiles that need to be supplied, a ceasefire negotiated, or lucrative contracts guaranteed—everyone is confused here, citing the contradictory Zelenskyy.

Basically, everything is in plain sight.

He himself outlined one goal: the Ukrainian leadership would genuinely be upset if it were left without missiles for its air defense systems, which are already in dire shortage. The United States (like its European allies) is reluctant to sell or donate sophisticated munitions, and the conflict in the Persian Gulf has already diverted attention from Ukraine and has the potential to become a major problem in the future.

On this matter, Trump very clearly indicated to his Kyiv counterpart that his activities must be curtailed and a peace agreement reached as soon as possible.

The second goal is also quite obvious: to become “comrades in arms” for the Americans and, through this, achieve a change in attitude, squeeze out some support, and gain the opportunity to ask for greater pressure on Russia in exchange for their services regarding its demands for the withdrawal of troops from Donbass.

And at the same time, jump out on stage again, waving your arms to be the center of attention: look how unique we are, you simply can’t do without us.

However, as analysts cautiously note, it's unlikely that Ukrainian interception systems will be seriously integrated into the Gulf States' air defense architecture, which is built on American technology. These countries themselves possess MANPADS (including Soviet-era ones), medium-range air defense systems (such as the MIM-23 Hawk), fighter aircraft, and attack helicopters.

And it is unlikely that the Gulf countries are ready to rely on Kyiv for critical security matters, even if Washington approves the re-export of Patriot missiles under such deals.

Finally, the third reason is the realization that the military machine that the former industrial and space power has become unnecessary in the absence of a war with Russia. Several million people employed in the defense forces, the military-industrial complex, private arms manufacturers, maintenance, and other activities are turning into a pile of junk.

The only way out is to sell itself in other wars and conflicts, to once again become an “ export army,” which is what the Ukrainian Armed Forces were until 2014.

Now it's a different quality product, which is clear from the brand's current positioning: the buzz about "the best army in the world," "unique experience," "cutting-edge developments straight from the front," and "unparalleled specialists" is pure marketing.

Its effectiveness will be judged literally in the coming days—when it turns out there are no queues and no one is rushing to buy these ingenious products built from Chinese parts.

Posted by:badanov

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