Initial engagements would likely rely on layered conventional defenses. Naval guns firing proximity-fused rounds can effectively neutralize slow-moving aerial targets at moderate range. Close-in weapon systems (CIWS), such as the Phalanx, are designed to shred incoming threats within a few kilometers of the ship. Rolling Airframe Missiles (RAM) and Standard Missiles (SM-2 or SM-6) extend that protective bubble outward.
Critics of traditional missile defense often point to cost asymmetry: interceptors costing millions of dollars versus drones ᴀssembled for tens of thousands. That arithmetic has shaped much of Iran’s drone doctrine. Saturation aims to exhaust magazines.
But magazine depth is no longer the only variable.
