Deadly Drone Attack Shows Iraqi Kurdistan Urgently Needs Air Defenses

The majority of residents in Iraqi Kurdistan have endured prolonged and chronic electricity cuts since a deadly drone attack against the autonomous region’s Khor Mor gas field on Wednesday night. The attack caused an enormous fire and has temporarily interrupted 80 percent of the region’s electricity supply, reducing it from 24 hours to as little as five. It struck at the core of Iraqi Kurdistan’s efforts to generate reliable 24/7 electricity for its residents. It’s also the latest reminder of the Kurdistan Region’s urgent requirement for air defenses to shield such critical infrastructure and population centers from heinous and unprovoked attacks like these.

In his statement condemning the attack, Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani urged “our American and international partners to provide the defensive equipment necessary to protect our civilian infrastructure.”

It wasn’t the first time Prime Minister Barzani emphasized the autonomous region’s worrying lack of air defense. In early 2024, he urged the U.S. to supply such equipment. At that time, Iraqi Kurdistan also endured frequent rocket and drone attacks, most of them targeting the U.S. troop base in Erbil province. Iran had also fired a salvo of ballistic missiles directly into the capital city, Erbil, killing a businessman and members of his family that January. It was Tehran’s second direct ballistic missile attack against the Kurdish capital in less than two years.

The U.S. has previously suggested it would provide Iraqi Kurdistan the means to defend itself from such attacks. It has also deployed a MIM-104 Patriot system to Erbil to shield its troops on occasion, although not permanently. And it’s previously pledged to provide Iraq and the Kurdish Peshmerga forces with unspecified air defenses.

Khor Mor suffered similar attacks in recent years, which have sometimes caused casualties among workers in the field. All these attacks originated from neighboring Iraqi federal territories, most likely executed by Iran-backed militias. Khor Mor’s location on Iraqi Kurdistan’s periphery makes it incredibly vulnerable to such attacks.

As outlined in this space in May 2024, Iraq’s Russian-made Pantsir-S1 could provide the site some degree of protection if deployed there. But Baghdad has lacked the political will to implement such a solution. Iraq expects to receive more advanced, medium-range KM-SAM air defense missile systems from South Korea in early 2026. It’s also doubtful that it will deploy any of these to help shield Iraqi Kurdistan’s critical infrastructure.

That leaves Kurdistan dependent on America and its Western allies. Since it’s not an independent state, it cannot buy such advanced military hardware off the shelf.

The United States has recently invested in Iraqi Kurdistan’s promising gas sector and opposes such attacks against the enclave. After Wednesday night’s incident, it offered protection for this infrastructure. Whether it will supply Kurdistan with air defense systems directly still remains to be seen.

Iraqi Kurdistan has not been a stranger to electricity interruptions and power cuts in the recent past. Nevertheless, the outages that began on Wednesday were particularly painful, coming mere months after the rollout of Prime Minister Barzani’s landmark Runaki initiative. Meaning ‘light’ in Kurdish, Runaki aims to deliver an uninterrupted, affordable 24/7 power supply to all residents of Iraqi Kurdistan by the end of 2026.

Since the 1991 Persian Gulf War, most of Iraq, including the Kurdistan Region, hasn’t had 24/7 power, with most residents relying on noisy, polluting diesel generators when the primary grid isn’t supplying electricity. Through Runaki, Iraqi Kurdistan made impressive progress in ending this. Not only did the main grid supply all the electricity, but the region began permanently shutting down public generators, markedly reducing air pollution in major cities within mere weeks.

Then came Wednesday night’s attack. In a single blow, it instantly reduced the region’s electricity production from 4,000 megawatts to a mere 1,000. And with many generators closed down in the preceding weeks, many residents in major towns and cities were left entirely in the dark.

It’s unclear whether this attack will see a greater effort to address Iraqi Kurdistan’s severe air defense vulnerabilities. As previously explored in this space, the United States is unlikely to provide high-end systems like the Patriot. But it could give shorter-range systems suitable for combating drones and for providing point defense. Furthermore, such systems would not even slightly threaten neighboring states or even Iraqi provinces and certainly wouldn’t alter the broader regional military balance. They could, however, prevent tragedies like Wednesday’s, protect Kurdistan’s vital infrastructure, and enable it to continue rolling out productive and progressive initiatives like Runaki. It would also help safeguard present and future American and Western investments in the energy sector.

Point defense solutions for Khor Mor and other vulnerable sites could include a relatively simple option, such as the surface-to-air version of the Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System. The APKWS are combat-proven unguided rockets equipped with laser-guidance kits, making them a cost-effective solution against drones. These could provide some protection for vulnerable sites like Khor Mor.

Whatever air defense the U.S. or other Western allies might eventually provide Iraqi Kurdistan to help it fend off these attacks, it will be both better late than never and a lot better than nothing.