President Trump got some positive news coverage in Iran when he said he asked American defense firms to build good and cheap drones like Iran does.
Many Iranians focused on the fact that he said Iranian drones were “good.” Trump’s emphasis was on the fact that they are “cheap.”
Trump said Iranian drones cost $35,000 to $40,000. Actually, the famed Mohajer used by Russia in Ukraine is believed to cost only about $20,000.
Trump said he asked one US firm, unnamed, to give him something like an Iranian drone and the firm came back with a drone “that cost $41 million.” That’s very expensive, even for an American drone.
The RQ-170 that Iran captured in 2011 and tried to reverse engineer cost the US $6 million.