Ukraine uses seven drone interceptors to bring down jet-powered Shaheds, but scaling up required – photo
Seven types of drone interceptors are being used in Ukraine to take down Russian jet-powered drones. All have been battle-tested.
Source: Andrii Hrytseniuk, head of the Brave1 defence cluster, in an interview with Ukrainska Pravda
Details: Hrytseniuk said the development of countermeasures against jet-powered Geran-type drones began a year before Russia started using them against Ukraine on a large scale.
Quote: "Back in the summer of 2025, once interceptor drones had managed to close the sky to conventional Shaheds, we started looking at where to focus our efforts next. That's when we began funding teams working on solutions to take down jet-powered drones. We're talking not just about high-speed interceptors, but also anti-aircraft missiles and turrets."
Details: Hrytseniuk also noted that 22 teams are developing high-speed drones to take down jet-powered Geran-type drones. Twelve of these teams have received state funding through Brave1.
Quote: "We're looking at drone projects with miniature turbojet engines and electric-powered drones with propellers. Another promising approach is to use electric ducted fans, which resemble turbojet engines in design but are powered by batteries."
Details: The government has also ordered the new interceptors in numbers that, according to Hrytseniuk, "have long surpassed 1,000". However, production is still being ramped up.
Quote: "We will definitely catch up with Russia's drone production, but it won't happen overnight. Look at what happened with conventional Shaheds: it took us six months to scale up interceptor production. We're doing everything we can to speed things up this time, but we're not talking days or weeks."
Background:
- Ukrainska Pravda reported that drone crews from Lasar's Group brought down two jet-powered Geran-5 drones with a new Ukrainian interceptor.
- Ukrainian defence company Wild Hornets is testing the Sting S, an interceptor designed to destroy jet-powered drones.
- Ukrainian defence tech company SkyFall previously provided Ukrainska Pravda with footage of its P1-SUN JetKiller interceptor destroying a Russian Geran-5 jet-powered drone.
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