US forces in Iraq and Syria have actually been facing the opposite problem. Current counter UAV systems are either expensive missiles, too costly for hobby-esque UAVs, gun systems where the prospect for a miss or UXO and its impact on civilians is something the military has to account for and report, laser systems which are immature or electronic countermeasures.
Each has issues, but the US has found that with its current batch of electronic countermeasures that they are a virtual blanket, a no-go zone for friendlies too. Great at dropping UAVs dead, but bad when you also want to operate in the environment. Despite being considered "directional" they aren't. It's a common misconception many civilians have.
I do know that the USMC is currently testing a C-RAM system, missile and laser as an augment to electronic countermeasures, since I actually know someone who works for the USMC's GBAD program. This is the laser, mounted on an MRZR that's being tested. For what I've heard the MRZR has an elevated roll-over rate as it is, so I'm not sure how adding a bulky setup like that will help with that issue. Interestingly, the US military must account for a missed laser shot since it will, like kinetic projectiles, continue to travel. The risk to friendly or civilian aircraft or satellites must be accounted for when using these systems in the field, which has go a ways to prevent their use on the battlefield.
As for the Russians, they likely used wide-area ECM, as the USMC is rather then trying to pick off individual targets one-by-one via a more directional microwave system. It's too slow and too risky when facing a mass assault. Pantsir is for cleaning up stragglers.
As for the questions about what Pantsir is capable of engaging signature wise... it's fine guys. Mortars, rockets, hobby UAVs like a DJI phantom, larger UAVs like Predator or Heron, cruise missiles and even PGMs. There's documented evidence supporting each of the claims about its effectiveness against these types of systems. Pantsir would easily have been able to see and engage the UAV showcased by Russia following this attack. In many cases it could be considered overkill, but it's better to waste Rubles or dollars then the lives of your soldiers.
Also, lol. Russia jumped from the
US to
Turkey to
Ukraine and even the Syrian government and Iranian proxies a too quickly in its blame train. A rebel group got a hold of UAVs the US
has known about through monitoring Jihadi sites and tracked
the proliferation of this type of UAV including sales by other Jihadi groups across North Africa and the Middle East, but for Russia it's still better to claim it was a state actor and a sophisticated attack then to admit they got punked by a bunch of rebel clowns.
