This Week in Dual-Use by Sam Burrell

Mar 11, 2026 - Major developments in dual-use and defence tech.

---

Iran destroys $300m American radar

Iran has destroyed an American radar in Jordan used missile defence. It’s not clear whether Iran used missiles or Shahed drones, or a combination of both to achieve this. What is certain is that it cost Iran a lot less than $300m to do so. It is one of Iran’s most successful attacks to date.

One of the more interesting discussions to come out of the third Gulf War has been the economics of defence tech. Pitted against Western costs of production, Iran’s cheap weapons come out on top. Indeed the cost-to-benefit ratio of the humble Shahed is so compelling that the US has created a carbon copy, which it is now deploying against Iran.

The economics mismatch is most acute when it comes to counter-drone systems. Shaheds cost ~$25,000 to produce but are being shot down by Patriot missiles (~$4m per missile) or fighter jets using air-to-air missiles (~$1-2m per missile). Ukraine has understood these economics for years but the West is just starting to digest them.

There are a number of compelling European companies developing products which could solve this problem in a cost-effective way. No doubt they are fielding phone calls from Dubai at the moment.

After losing Starlink access, Russia turns to balloon-based comm

Russia is developing a new balloon-borne system which could provide battlefield access to high-speed data communications.

I wrote recently about Starlink, Elon Musk and the rise of billionaires who can affect battlefield outcomes. Private capital is powering a new wave of defence tech and it could also reshape geopolitics.

After Elon cut off Russian access to Starlink, Moscow has been testing a stratospheric balloon relay known as Barrage-1, capable of carrying communications payloads to around 20km altitude to restore battlefield connectivity.

What this illustrates is how completely the Ukraine war has rewired military thinking about communications. Once troops experience high-bandwidth connectivity for targeting and command-and-control, they cannot easily revert to legacy radios and patchy satellite links. That has revived Cold War concepts like high-altitude aerostats.

The deeper lesson is geopolitical. SpaceX has demonstrated that a privately owned LEO constellation can become critical battlefield infrastructure. Russia’s balloon network is about regaining strategic autonomy.

It will be interesting to see how other countries, in particular those in the West, respond to the possibility of Elon Musk switching off their Starlink.

UK sends drone-hunting unit to Cyprus

British soldiers who have trained in the latest counter-drone tactics alongside Ukrainians fighting Russian drones were sent to Cyprus. Among them are soldiers from the Royal Artillery’s 12 Regiment, the Army’s counter-drone unit.

Cyprus sits on the edge of several emerging drone theatres - the Levant, the Eastern Mediterranean, and the Gulf. This deployment might be the first time that the UK has exported lessons learned from Ukraine into other conflicts.

I often write about counter-drone technology, but counter-drone expertise is just as important. Knowledge of tactics will likely becoming a core instrument of forward deterrence, as cheap UAVs continue to proliferate across unstable regions.

Subscribe to the newsletter here.

Samuel Burrell is a Partner at Expeditions, investing in the future of security in Europe.

His weekly newsletter covers developments in dual-use and defence technologies, picking out the changes in the sector, giving them context and analysis.