By The Numbers — Gray-Zone Index
Low-Cost (and Phantom) Drones Cause Disproportionate Damage
Build a cross-domain frequency count of gray-zone incidents (cyber, drone, sabotage, disinformation) across Europe and the Gulf to show the pattern is systemic, not episodic.
Although drones are a real threat, audited European drone sightings often turn up nothing.
ENTRIES008
SOURCES005
POLLS003
Phantom Drones
001
Factor by which drone sightings closing European airports rose between January 2024 and November 2025
Source: Euronews
4
002
Portion of audited European drone sightings that turned up no evidence of any drone
Source: Dronewatch via Trouw
90%
Asymmetry
003
Average cost of Iranian Shahed "kamikaze" drones
35thousand dollars
004
Average cost of UAE's ballistic missile
1.5million dollars
005
Dollars the UAE spends shooting down a drone for every dollar Iran spends launching it
$28per $1
Ukraine
006
Total cost of the drones Ukraine used to strike four Russian airbases in one day
Source: Just Security (Lesia Bidochko)
$117K
007
Share of Russia's strategic cruise-missile delivery platforms struck in that one operation
34%
008
Months Ukraine spent preparing the strike
18
Readers & Markets
What happens next, in numbers.
3 polls measuring where opinion sits. Prices and vote shares update in real time.
Reader Polls
03 surveys
Are You Concerned About the EU's Security in the Next Five Years?
Source: Ipsos
Concerned
64%
Not Concerned
32%
Do You Think the U.S. Is Spending Too Little, About the Right Amount, or Too Much on National Defense and Military Purposes?
Source: Gallup
Too Little
34%
About Right
34%
Too Much
32%
Are You Optimistic About the Future of the EU?
Source: Ipsos
Optimistic
58%
Pessimistic
37%