At first glance, it might seem wasteful to use a $200,000+ missile to shoot down a $10,000 drone, but if it can save lives, it’s much better than the alternative. Using a Gepard anti-aircraft cannon (literally Flak) system is more resource-efficient, but of course, these aren’t everywhere.

Still curious how and why air-to-air missiles are ground-launched. Then again, the German IRIS-T is also originally an air-to-air missile, adapted for surface-to-air use as the IRIS-T SLS and IRIS-T SLM.