In this article:
Shahed series
Kamikaze Shahed-131 and Shahed-136 are one-way-attack (OWA) unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), are designed to destroy ground fixed objects by pointing and contact explosion of warheads and UAVs. As noted by Open Source Munitions Portal, they are essentially guided missiles — flying towards pre-designated targets and exploding on impact. These UAVs are Iranian designed ant they were first used in the Middle East by Iranian and Iranian-backed forces.
Shahed-131 and Shahed-136 were designed ‘Geran-1’ and ‘Geran-2’ by Russians after they started to receive them following the invasion of Ukraine in 2022. After that, Moscow started domestic mass production of these UAVs with Iranian assistance. Shahed are cheaper than most other long-range, OWA UAVs given that they have an estimated cost between $20,000 and $50,000. They are dubbed “the poor man’s cruise missile” because of their low cost, low-altitude flight profile and self-sacrificial nature.
As previously reported, in December 2025, the US military announced it had developed the LUCAS drone, a clone of the Shahed 136 developed from the reverse engineering of the Shahed 136, and deployed a squadron in the Middle East. LUCAS’s first officially confirmed use was in February 2026, against the Islamic Republic of Iran Armed Forces during Operation Epic Fury.
EA-18G unique loadout
As already explained, on Mar. 17, 2026 the US Central Command (CENTCOM) released the interesting photo in this post featuring a VAQ-133 EA-18G Growler launching from USS Abraham Lincoln during Operation Epic Fury with an impressive loadout featuring four AGM-88 anti-radiation missiles, two AIM-120 AMRAAMs, two 480-gallon external fuel tanks, and a single ALQ-99 Tactical Jamming System pod.
The picture offers a unique insight into the EA-18G’s external stores, giving a rare sight of how the US Navy’s Growler is able to integrate electronic attack, suppression of enemy air defenses, and air-combat self-protection within a high-intensity operational environment.
Given her unique versatility can the EA-18G Growler be a US Navy cost-effective solution to defend against inexpensive drone attacks without overkill?
Barrage jamming
Adam Daymude, former US Navy EA-18G Growler pilot, explains;
‘A lot of answers have focused on a “kill” of some sort. Cheaper missiles, auto-cannons, etc…
‘Eh! Maybe. Fact is, we (the USN) can handle it today at the cost of a few tens of thousands of dollars per hour…for practically unlimited coverage.
‘All of those drones are controlled by RF datalinks, and fairly low powered ones at that. We would absolutely crush those datalinks with sheer power; we wouldn’t even need exotic jamming techniques because barrage jamming alone should do the trick.
‘Most people that aren’t in the know would assume that we only really go after RADARs. Nay nay! If it emits/receives in the radio spectrum, we can attack it. That includes comms and datalinks. And I’ll guarantee you some really smart folks at Hopkins have developed jamming techniques to not just break the link but almost certainly have also found ways to get a premature detonation of whatever it’s carrying.’
Daymude concludes;
‘Growlers are extremely versatile. There’s a reason why we kept EA capabilities when the Prowler was retired.’
Photo credit: CENTCOM and Behrouz Ahmadi via Wikipedia
