We are hearing a lot about the Shahed 136, a cheap drone designed by Iran and copied by Russia (and recently the US) that is causing a lot of damage. It is basically a small unmanned plane that carries an explosive charge and makes oneway trips to the target where it crashes, kamikaze style.
Some models have a significant range, as much as 1200 miles. Cost estimates of the Shahed 136 range from $20k to $50k. By comparison cruise missiles and ballistic missiles start around $1 million each.
Shahed flies low and slow and should be easy to hit, except the ground-to-air missiles which can hit it cost much more than it does. The idea is to fire many drones at once, so a few will get through to the target and knocking down the rest will cost your enemy millions he may not have.
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I think the ideal weapon to knock down this sort of drone is a modern day version of a World War II fighter with machine guns, whose ammo is truly cheap by comparison. Such a fighter cannot survive in 21st century contested airspace but shooting down drones mostly happens over one's own territory where high tech enemies aren't so prevalent and enemy AA fire non-existent.
Directed by ground-based radar, drones like the Shahed should be easy targets for quick, gun-slinging prop planes or maybe the A-10. These can loiter awaiting the arrival of drones, and pounce on them, no dog-fighting required.
RAF fighter pilots had some success shooting down V-1 flying bombs in the latter stages of World War II. They were a similar target but faster. The V-1 was the world's first mass-produced jet powered aircraft.
