Ukraine turns to budget-friendly drone defense, facing missile threats - Reuters
Ukraine is betting on interceptor drones as a low-cost alternative to air defense systems (Illustrative photo: Getty Images)
Interceptor drones could become a cheap and accessible alternative to Western or Soviet-made air defense missiles for Ukraine, according to Reuters.
As Reuters reports, citing a charitable organization that supplies interceptor drones, these devices have already shot down around 1,500 drones sent by Russia for battlefield reconnaissance or bombing Ukrainian cities.
In total, over the one-year lifespan of the project, more than 3,000 reconnaissance and attack UAVs have been destroyed thanks to these interceptors. According to the military, such drones are several times cheaper to use than Western or Soviet air defense missiles.
According to media reports, most of these interceptor drones are currently supplied by charitable foundations, and operators control them via ground-based video cameras.
Some models can reach speeds of over 300 km/h. They are already being used regularly to intercept Shahed drones during massive attacks on Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities. However, experts note that current interceptor models are not yet capable of effectively destroying cruise missiles or the new jet-powered drones that Russia has recently begun using.
Sam Bendett, a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS), stated that Russian forces have complained about the effectiveness of Ukraine’s large interceptor drones - but they are also working on developing their own.
“We're starting to see more and more videos of various types of interceptions by both sides ... I think this is going to accelerate and it's going to become more and more ubiquitous in the coming weeks,” he said.
Production of interceptor drones in Ukraine
According to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukraine plans to produce hundreds of thousands of interceptor drones this year, as the number of downed Russian Shahed drones is expected to continue growing steadily.
He noted that production of interceptor drones has already begun. These drones vary in price and capabilities. Overall, the production effort is estimated to cost $6 billion.
Today, Zelenskyy announced that he has set a clear goal for drone manufacturers: Ukraine must have the capacity to deploy at least 1,000 interceptor drones per day.
