Low Cost Drones in Modern Warfare and Counter Drone Strategies: A Review

Abstract

This review article discusses low-cost military drones, the components necessary to manufacture such a drone, its overall cost, and the threats posed by them against civilian and military targets. It considers available counter-drone technologies, examining their challenges and costs. While conventional air defense systems defend against single targets very well, defending against drone swarms will overwhelm any single missile defense solution. They are often stationary and fixed in place for easy targeting and destruction. Low-cost interceptor drones might be the answer to this dilemma. Kinetic-kill approaches seem to be the best solution, considering how inefficient jamming and cyber-attacks are and how ridiculously expensive interceptor missiles are. This paper discusses the components needed to develop interceptor drones, the deployment processes, and the strategic shift that must be made to embrace low-cost counter-drone technologies for the battlespaces of tomorrow.

Introduction

Low-cost drones have transformed modern warfare by offering affordable, versatile, and effective tools for surveillance, target acquisition, and precision strikes. These drones, including unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), surface vehicles (USVs), and underwater vehicles (UUVs), are widely used by state and non-state actors in conflicts such as those in Ukraine, the Middle East, and Africa. Their proliferation poses serious threats due to their precision, stealth, and the potential for swarm tactics, which can overwhelm traditional defense systems.

Counter-drone measures currently include jamming, radar detection, kinetic interceptors (missiles, guns, nets), directed energy weapons (lasers, microwaves), cyber takeovers, and even trained birds of prey. Each method has limitations such as high cost, susceptibility to environmental factors, or ethical concerns.

A key strategic challenge is the cost asymmetry where cheap drones can destroy expensive military assets, making traditional air defenses inefficient. This drives the development of low-cost interceptor drones designed for autonomous detection, tracking, and neutralization of hostile drones using kinetic or non-lethal means. These interceptor drones require advanced AI, sensors, robust communication, and modular payloads for flexible, scalable multi-domain defense across air, sea, and underwater environments.

Future defense hinges on affordability, autonomy, adaptability, and integration of emerging technologies like edge computing, biomimicry, and mesh networking, supported by public-private collaboration. Ultimately, interceptor drones will augment traditional air defenses by creating layered, resilient, and cost-effective protection against the evolving drone threat landscape.

References

Oscar Liang, “Quadcopter Hardware Overview - Every Component Explained”, 1 May 2024 [2] David Albright and Sarah Burkhard., ‘‘Electronics in the Shahed-136 Kamikaze Drone’’ ISIS Online, 23rd Nov. 2023. [3] Steve Brown, \"Analysis: The Magura-V5 Sea Drone – Scourge of Russia\'s Black Sea Fleet,\" in Kyiv Post, Mar. 6, 2024. [4] Steve Brown, \"Is It a Submarine or a Torpedo? ‘Toloka TLK-150’,\" in Kyiv Post, May 26, 2023. [5] David Hambling, \"Ukraine Launches Queen Hornet Supersized FPV Bomber Drone,\" Forbes, May 30, 2024. [6] BulgarianMilitary.com, \"Russian Shahed-136 drones now carry 198lb warheads - Ukraine,\" May 21, 2025. [7] Joseph Trevithick, \"U.S. Army Buys More Drone Killers As Threats Grow,\" The War Zone, May 8, 2024. [8] Gareth Jennings, \"UK MoD invests GBP90 million in DragonFire laser weapon,\" Janes, 18 January 2024. [9] The News, ‘‘29 shot down Harop drones cost India Rs5.73bn,’’ May 9, 2025. [10] Wikipedia, \"MAGURA V5,\" 31 Aug. 2023. [11] Naval News, \"Ukraine\'s new underwater drone Marichka breaks cover,\" Aug. 2023. [12] H.I. Sutton, \"Overview Of Maritime Drones (USVs) Of The Russo-Ukrainian War,\" Covert Shores, Dec. 7, 2024. [13] Vogan-9SP, July 2, 2024. [Online]. Available: https://armyrecognition.com/templates/yootheme/cache/a2 /Russia_develops_ drone_interceptor_ againt_UAV_ world_premiere_motivated_by_war_doctrine-a219ffc2.webp

Copyright

Copyright © 2025 Anik Mondal, Anurag Ghosh, Arghya Mondal, Aritra Dey, Ayan Sarkar, Antara Ghosal, Anurima Majumder, Palasri Dhar. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.