The writer is senior managing director of TRENDS US, an associate fellow at Chatham House and a non-resident senior fellow with the Atlantic Council’s Forward Defense initiative
President Donald Trump is expected to scrap security assistance for Ukraine in next year’s US defence budget. This provides a strategic opening for the Gulf states. They should replace decreasing US security assistance to Ukraine with funds of their own in return for Kyiv’s systematic help in counter-drone capabilities and training, which they desperately need.
The Gulf states are not about to abandon the US as their number-one security partner. They recognise that despite all its flaws, exposed so clearly during the Iran war, the US security umbrella is virtually irreplaceable. But they have an immediate security need the US cannot fulfil due to supply constraints and lack of capability. While the US has some of the best missile defence systems in the world, which Gulf states have utilised quite effectively against Iranian attacks, it is not the most capable or experienced counter-drone operator; Ukraine is.