- Ukraine is looking to build interceptor drones to hunt and take down Russian UAVs.
- The drones would be attack platforms that would travel at fairly high speeds and relatively high altitudes.
- The drones would be a cheap alternative to air-defense missiles, which Ukraine needs for other threats.
Ukraine is taking steps to develop an interceptor drone that can hunt and take down some of the enemy unmanned aerial vehicles that are buzzing over the battlefield.
On Wednesday, Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine's minister of digital transformation, announced that the country wants to begin building interceptor drones to take down Russia's surveillance UAVs, specifically Orlan, SuperCam, and ZALA drones.
On behalf of Brave1, a Ukrainian government-supported defense innovation operation, Fedorov requested help on his Telegram channel from engineers to develop interceptor drones as an alternative to wasting valuable surface-to-air missiles to eliminate Russian UAVs.
The interceptor, he said, needs to be able to fly up to 150 kilometers per hour and up to a height of up to 1,500 meters. It should also be able to receive preliminary information about a target, quickly take off and locate it, and then eliminate the enemy drone.
This system, Fedorov explained, would give Ukraine a cheaper tool in its arsenal for destroying Russian unmanned reconnaissance aircraft functioning as "eyes for Russian artillery and strike drones," the latter being a reference to exploding FPV drones.
Fedorov's call for help comes as Ukraine is running low on interceptor missiles for its air-defense systems and must conserve its supply to counter precision guided munitions, such as the Russian missiles regularly lobbed at its cities alongside one-way attack drones. Russia has ramped up both the intensity and frequency of its missile and drone air strikes in recent months.
The attacks force Ukraine to limit air-defense coverage along the front lines and focus on civilian population centers. And with critical Western aid tied up in Congress and NATO often struggling to get weapons and assistance to Kyiv quickly, the situation is increasingly dire.
The interceptor drones, as Fedorov suggested, are a cheaper option for shooting down drones and UAVs so that Ukraine can preserve its air defenses.
Fighting the drone war
Ukraine has long prioritized the development of drone systems, and these unmanned assets have played pivotal roles in the war thus far.
This also isn't the first time Ukraine has sought out the development of drones that can hunt and kill other drones, though it is different from previous efforts. The Shahed Hunter system, an anti-drone defense system bought with funds from the UNITED24 crowdfunding platform, releases interceptor drones with heavy-duty nets to capture incoming enemy drones.
Once the drone is caught, a parachute is released to slowly bring it down to the ground, avoiding explosions.
In one video of the system in action, the English captions said: "The first 'Shahed Hunters' have already went hunting. These anti-drone systems can: detect enemy drones, jam GPS signals, intercept devices in the sky. Let the drone hunt begin!"
At sea, Ukraine's fleet of naval drones have been relentless, regularly damaging and even sinking Russian ships and shutting down freedom of movement in the area. In the skies, both Ukraine and Russia have been fighting an intense drone war, which has seen both sides relying on UAVs to collect information, conduct strikes on enemy positions, and surprise attack enemy forces. Robotic vehicles are also operating in the mix.
And with all these drones moving about in the battlespace, there has also been drone-on-drone combat, most recently in a video of fighting near Avdiivka, where Ukrainian quadcopter drones took out two Russian ground combat robots. Now, Ukraine is seeking to build technology able to hunt a different kind of game.