Ukraine developing new air defense to destroy enemy drones

"Protecting the sky from enemy drones is one of the priorities of Ukraine’s defense industry. A participant of the defense innovation cluster, MaXon, is creating an air-to-air air defense system with its own guidance system and high-speed interceptors to protect large perimeters," Fedorov said.

According to him, the development of the system is already undergoing combat testing in the Kyiv and Chernihiv regions.

The minister added that thanks to the systemic support of Brave1, the MaXon team successfully closed its first investment round, including from Freedom Fund and Defender Ventures. The company is continuing fundraising within the next round to accelerate R&D and scale the solution.

Importantly, MaXon's technology integrates solutions from other Brave1 participants. This is how the cluster's ecosystem works: companies that create effective solutions in different areas can combine them.

As the minister noted, this results in innovations capable of changing the course of the war.

Ukrainian developments

Ukrainian engineers are developing new strike drones designed to hunt down Shaheds. The UAVs operate on the principle of air defense missiles — detonating near enemy targets and hitting them with shrapnel.

In addition, Ukraine has raised drone production to a new level — at present, the defense industry is capable of manufacturing about 10 million drones annually, including those with artificial intelligence.

An effective confirmation of the use of AI-powered drones is the Spiderweb operation, during which 34% of Russia's strategic aviation was disabled on June 1.

Amid the success of Ukrainian UAVs, the United Kingdom announced it will spend about $2.7 billion on developing drone technologies using tactics developed during the war in Ukraine.