The U.S. F-35C used an air-to-air missile to shoot down the Iranian Shahed-139 drone as it approached the USS Abraham Lincoln in the Arabian Sea on February 3, 2026. Reports confirm the engagement was carried out with a standard missile loadout rather than cannon fire, consistent with typical U.S. Navy rules of engagement for drones at range
**Each AIM-120 AMRAAM missile—the weapon most likely used by the F-35C to down the Iranian Shahed drone—costs about $1.1 million per unit (FY2019 AIM-120D pricing). That means every intercept of a relatively inexpensive drone can run the U.S. military over a million dollars in missile costs alone.
Iranian Shahed-139 drone: Estimated cost $20,000–$50,000 (based on similar Shahed-series UAVs).
• Cost ratio: The U.S. spent 20–50 times more to destroy the drone than Iran spent to build it.
• This highlights the asymmetry of drone warfare—cheap drones can force adversaries to expend costly interceptors.
I wonder what the Yankees used to shoot down the Iranian Shahed UAV. It is such a cheap drone and if the Yankees used a missile to intercept it then jin boh hua.