[budman1]

USAF did lose an AWACS plane to a drone attack. Why? It was out in the open. I would think some minimal concealment / camouflage would have made an easy drone target into an impossible one. Same with the early warning radars that were destroyed; someone was asleep in command not posturing these systems such that they were at least slightly harder to find and hit.

Overall, the drones were militarily a bunch of mosquito's. None of the US allies 'enjoyed' having civilian targets hit by the Iranian drones, but the military impact was minor at best.

Unless you want to put boots on the ground, you send missiles and drop bombs.

The Iranian drones would have been a lot more of a problem if they were harassing ground troops on the way to Tehran.

(does the US need counter drone systems? yes, absolutely. is air superiority dead? not at all)