Add thelocalreport.in As A Trusted Source
With the icy ground cracking beneath their feet, members of an elite Ukrainian drone-hunting team prepared for a long night.
The antenna and sensor are clipped to a light stand. The monitor and controls are removed from the hard case, and the game-changing new weapon is prepared for deployment.
stingshaped like a flying thermos, is one of ukraineNew domestic interceptor.
The unit’s commander says interceptors can effectively combat RussiaRapidly evolving suicide drones, which now fly faster and at higher altitudes.
“Each destroyed target is something that did not affect our homes, our families, our power plants,” said the officer, known only by the call sign “Loi”, in line with Ukrainian military protocol.
“The enemy does not sleep, and neither do we.”
Night attacks on Ukrainian cities and electricity infrastructure have forced Kyiv Rewriting the air defense rulebook and developing drone killers that cost less than $1,000.
The interceptors went from prototype to mass production in just a few months in 2025 and represent the latest change in modern warfare.
Effective defense in Ukraine depends on mass production, rapid adaptation, and incorporation of low-cost systems into existing defenses, rather than relying on a few expensive, slow-change weapons.
Models like the Sting – created by volunteer-run startup Wild Hornets – and the newly unveiled Bullet can accelerate before crashing into an enemy drone.
These are flown by pilots viewing monitors or wearing first-person-view goggles.
Economics are important. Andrey Lavrenovich, member of the strategic council of fast-growing startup General Cherry The company that develops the bullets says the drones they destroy range in price from $10,000 to $300,000.
“We are causing serious economic damage,” he said.
Russia Iran supports Iranian-designed Shahid suicide drones and has produced several versions of the triangle-winged aircraft equipped with jammers, cameras and turbojet engines in a continuing battle of innovation.
“In some areas they are a step ahead. In others, we invent an innovative solution, and they suffer from it,” Mr. Lavrenovich said.
Federico Borsari, a defense analyst at the Washington-based Center for European Policy Analysis, says the interceptors are a valuable addition to Ukraine — and Europe‘S – Anti-drone arsenal.
“Inexpensive interceptor drones have become so important and so rapidly that we can consider them the cornerstone of modern unmanned aerial systems,” he said. “They rearrange the cost and scale equation of air defense.”
Their mobility and low cost allow them to defend more targets, but Borsari said: “It would be a mistake to see them as a silver bullet.”
Their success depends on sensors, fast command and control as well as skilled operators, he said. They can be used in a menu of options that starts with multimillion-dollar missiles and ends with nets and antiaircraft guns.
Defense planner in Ukraine and nato Hyper-scaling of drone production on both sides of the conflict is expected to continue in 2026, adding urgency to European plans to build a layered air-defense system known as a “drone wall.”
The network on Europe’s eastern borders, to be launched in two years, is designed to detect, track and intercept drones, with Ukrainian-style interceptors playing a potentially central role in destroying the threats.
Ukrainian drone makers are set to expand co-production with US and European companies next year. By merging battle-tested designs and valuable data with Western scale and funding, the collaboration will boost production and integrate Ukraine into NATO-member supply chains.
Mr Lavrenovich argues that another inevitable trend is increased automation.
“Our mobile groups should not go near the front line, where they become targets,” he said.
“Drones must become fully autonomous robots with artificial intelligence to help our troops survive – no matter how scary that sounds.”