It costs seven times as much to shoot down a drone as it costs to launch it.

The military strategic consulting firm Molfar appreciates that.

Military analysts are now asking whether Ukraine's costly defense tactics are financially sustainable or whether they play right into Russia's hands in the long run.

Since the start of the war, it is estimated that Russia has fired upwards of 600 drones.

A frequently used Iranian Shahed-136 drone costs about 210,000 kroner to produce – an anti-aircraft robot that can handle the attack between one and five million, according to New York Times calculations. 

Paasikivi: Economic reasoning tricky

Ukrainian forces are generally secretive about exactly which military assets they are sitting on as they do not want to disclose critical defense intelligence.

This means that exact costs are difficult to calculate.

According to lieutenant colonel Joakim Paasikivi, economic reasoning about the cost of war can be tricky. 

- It is unreasonable to shoot expensive robots at cheap drones.

But if this drone hits something, the cost of destruction will be higher than the robot, he says.  

Do you see that Russia's intensive drone attacks could be a tactic to drain Ukraine economically? 

- I do not think so.

Ukraine doesn't pay for the robots, we do.

The question is rather whether they will drain the west, but there are no signs of that. 

The West's stockpiles are historically small

According to Paasikivi, the big problem is not the money - but the weapons stockpiles.

After the Cold War, Western stockpiles are historically small.

Russia is trying to take advantage of that by firing so much that the West's industrial capacity will not be enough.

But Russian ammunition stocks are also running low.

According to reports, the Kremlin and the Iranian regime are working to establish joint drone production in Russia.

Something that can bring considerable pressure against the Ukrainian air defense system.

Neither Russia nor Iran have confirmed the information.

According to Arash Heydarian Pashakhanlou, associate professor of military science, such cooperation is unlikely, but not impossible.

- What speaks against it is that Iran has said that it supplied Russia with these drones before the war and that it is now neutral.

It will be difficult to claim if you move the production of the drones to Russia.

Hear how Russia's drone strategy could affect the war going forward in the clip above.