From DJI to drone killers: China’s cheap air defence revolution

At the recent Shenzhen fair, where various new Chinese defence innovations were showcased, some of the more unusual platforms on display were 3D-printed interceptors designed to take down drones. A year ago, many of the companies that are now producing these systems had not even begun their foray into this space. Today, those same companies produce and export thousands of these rockets that physically take down smaller aircraft such as drones. 

Wen Ting, founder of Shenzhen Weichuan Model Equipment, said his firm only began developing them in October last year. As the components required for anti-drone systems overlap with those used in drones, China can leverage its expertise in drone development to rapidly mass-produce these low-cost air defences. This corroborates reports that China is also leading the race to file patents for anti-drone platforms. While China has a head start by leveraging an existing technological toolkit, defence industries around the world increasingly appear to be focusing on platforms that are both attritable and cost-effective.

Cheaper air defences make sense

This apparent pivot towards developing cheaper air defences reflects trends emerging from recent conflicts around the world. Both the Russia-Ukraine war and the war on Iran seem to suggest a shift in war economies, and frequent headlines have highlighted how sophisticated interceptors such as the Patriot and the THAAD have struggled to take down cheap drones. Missiles like the THAAD are designed to operate at high altitudes to intercept ballistic missiles, while drones and loitering munitions by and large operate at lower altitudes. An American congressman recently compared using the Patriot against Shaheds to throwing Ferraris at frisbees, which sums up many of the drawbacks of using sophisticated air defence platforms against drones.

In such face-offs, the math no longer works in favour of the premium interceptor. For instance, the Patriot PAC-3 missile costs about US$4.1 million according to estimates by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). Similarly, a THAAD interceptor costs about US$12 million, compared with as little as US$35,000 for Iran’s Shahed 136 drone, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). In practice, reports reveal that the cost exchange is approximately 85-1 each time a Patriot is fired at a Shahed. The US has also reportedly developed the LUCAS (the Low-cost Unmanned Combat Attack System) by reverse-engineering the Shahed.

Similarly, Israel finds itself facing the same problem. The Tamir interceptor, which costs anything between US$40,000 and US$100,000 and is often used in pairs to increase chances of success, has to combat Hamas’s Qassam rockets that cost as little as US$300. Although to some extent a larger defence budget can absorb these costs, it speaks of a larger structural mismatch between expensive platforms designed to take down sophisticated missiles, and rockets and drones that cost next to nothing to produce.

Interceptor drones versus drones

When the US burnt through a concerning proportion of its own stockpiles in the Iran war — the Pentagon reportedly spent US$4 billion on missile-defence interceptors in the first week — it soon turned to platforms akin to the Ukrainian interceptor drones. Reportedly, the US’s partners in the Gulf fared similarly. Bahrain used as much as 87% of its Patriot stock, the UAE and Kuwait followed with about 75%, and Qatar used up about 40%. Over eight days, the US Army reportedly purchased 13,000 Merops interceptor drones that cost them approximately US$15,000 per unit.

China’s industrial base already in place

Returning to Shenzhen with this context in mind, the timing of the 3D-printed interceptor rockets makes more sense. The same component base, manufacturing scale and supply chain dominance that built DJI let dozens of firms pivot into interceptors within months and undercut everyone else on price. The gap is not really about interceptor-specific innovation; it stems from the fact that China had the industrial base already in place when demand for cheap counter-drone tech suddenly spiked. The fact that Wen Ting’s Shenzhen Weichuan is already exporting its platforms to both Russia and West Asian countries suggests how widespread the demand for cheaper air defences is.

There seems to be a consensus that while sophisticated missile interceptors are more than adequate to mitigate the threats they were designed for, they are not suitable for combating vast numbers of cheap drones. Perhaps, as Ukraine’s interceptor-drones and China’s exports suggest, the solution also follows the same economic logic as the threat itself.

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