“Find, catch and destroy”. Ukrainian drones capturing Shahida
– Our mobile anti -aircraft defense departments began to lose their effectiveness. Shahid drones are now flying at high altitudes. Our electronic combat systems have become less significantbecause the Russians use stronger antennas, suppressing our EW [walkę elektroniczną — red.] – admits Serhij Beskrestnow, a consultant of the Ukrainian army and head of the NGOs of the Center for Radio Technology.
According to the statistics of the Ukrainian Air Force Only in July, Moscow sent 6275 Shahid drones against Ukraineand over 355 in the first days of August. The evolving attacks of Russian drones make it difficult for Ukrainian air defense forces to shoot down and exhaust air defense supply.
– So we only left Our aviation and expensive Western anti -aircraft shells. But we do not have enough helicopters and jets, and we are too dependent on the supply of Western air defense systems – added Beskrestnow. – However, waste of expensive missiles is unreasonable because we would never have enough of them to shoot down thousands of drones.
Instead of launching intercepting missiles from American Patriot systems, each of which costs about $ 4 million. [ok. 15 mln zł]or 400 thousand euro [ok. 1,7 mln zł] For those from the European IRIS-T system, in order to knock down Iranian Shahid drones costing 50,000. hole. [ok. 184 tys. zł]Ukraine develops its own capture drones, which cost from $ 1,000 to $ 5,000. [od 3700 do 18 400 zł] for art. – We had to come up with cheaper tool: intercourse anti -aircraft drones – explains Beskrestnow.
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The captivating drones appear in both the wings and propellers, and the pilots control them towards the target. Capturing fighters are equipped with digital communication systems that allow them to rise at higher heights; They can then accelerate to a speed of about 330 km per hour before they hit their goals. “It must be faster than Shahid, which flies 200 km per hour, and this drone must find, catch and destroy it,” said Beskrestnow.
The capturing fighters are a more precise and effective air defense tool in the fight against the mass of hostile drones, says Rudolf Akopian, strategic communication director at the Ukrainian Military Technology Company General Cherry. Dozens of Russian drones were shot down by Ukrainian capture fighters During recent attacks, said the President of Ukraine Wołodymyr Zelnski.
When an alarm is heard, Ukrainian land radar stations detect the trajectory of Russian drones Kamikaze. – Our mobile air defense units receive a signal when the drone appears in their sector and prepare. Currently, some of them are equipped with fighters capturing instead of machine guns, “said Beskrestnow.
Drone pilots usually have about 5 minutes of flight to find a hostile drone in the sky, catch up with it, and then break it, shooting down or blowing up next to it – depending on the model of the capturing fighter. – it's a matter of time when We will start to shine the shahids massively – said Akopian.
“This has given us an advantage from the beginning of the invasion”
Ukraine already has a huge national drone production industry – one that attracts the attention of allies due to The ability to produce a huge number of drones at low costswhile constantly improving their technology. Increasing the production of intercepting rockets is a matter of time and money.
Zelanski set a new goal, which he is production of 1000 drones capturing per day. However, so far the country has signed only four contracts worth 3 billion hryvnia [ok. 265 mln zł] – which is far from estimated $ 6 billion. [ok. 22 mld zł] needed to increase all forms of drone production and train more pilots.
Apartment block in Kiev after the attack of Russian drones, July 21, 2025.Kirill Chubotin / Ukrinform / PAP
Ukraine began the development of the capture drone market, said in July the Ukrainian defense minister Denys Szmyhal. Last week, Kyiv also increased the number special contracts for young recruits wanting to become drone pilots. The two -year contract offers a bonus of 1 million hryvnia [ok. 88 tys. zł]. While the state is just catching up, Ukrainian volunteer organizations have been providing military devices that have been capturing for about a year.
– state institutions are less flexible compared to business. So business with its research and development centers will always react faster to the situation and needs on the front. This is what gave us, Ukrainians, the advantage from the beginning of the full -scale invasion – says Akopian.
– Now the most important thing is to focus on what works and thinking about new technologies – adds Akopian. – The situation on the battlefield changes very quickly. The government and the structures of the Ministry of Defense and the General Staff must give green light for new solutions. Starting from the import of components for producers to the operational acceptance of proven technical solutions.
“In this way they overload our air defense”
However, intercepting drones are not a magical ball that will eliminate the threat of Russian air attacks. During massive attacks The Russian army fires deadly drones simultaneously from the north, east and south
“Shahids focus around one city and attack them at one time,” explains Beskrestnow. – In this way they overload our air defense. This is why Technically, we cannot afford to place anti -aircraft drones throughout the countryin all cities, in all regions, in all forests, in swamps and so on. Can you imagine the number of pilots we need to cover everything?
And the Kremlin will probably respond to interceptors, improving Shahida. Russians can switch to jet engines, thanks to which their drones will be faster and more difficult to catch.
– But this will also make the production of Shahids more complex and expensive. They have already sent The first shahids with reactive engines, but so far we haven't seen much of them – says Beskrestnow. – Our enemy is not sleeping and has already begun to use tactics to counteract our anti -aircraft drones: difficult maneuvers to complicate the work of our captivating fighters.
