Ukrainian firms race to build faster interceptor drones to counter Russian jet-powered UAVs

KIELCE, Poland — As Russia’s military increasingly relies on jet-powered drones in its war against Ukraine, Ukrainian defense companies are intensifying efforts to counter the threat while striving to make interceptors cheaper than the targets they strike.

A number of anti-drone system producers from Ukraine are showcasing their solutions to military and industry representatives from Poland and other countries at this year’s MSPO defense industry show in Kielce, Poland, which runs from September 8 to 11.

General Cherry

Ukraine’s UAV producer General Cherry is among the companies working on solutions to counter the threat posed by Russian jet-powered drones. The company is developing a new kinetic booster version of its Bullet interceptor, designed to reach a maximum speed of approximately 450 km/h (280 mph).

“We have to make changes to the frame and the materials the drone is made of, using more heat-resistant materials,” Andrii Oliinyk, senior international affairs manager at General Cherry, told Defense News at the event. “We plan to release it this fall after the testing phase is completed.”

Grim Tech

Grim Tech, another Ukraine-based vendor, is developing a new interceptor specifically designed to counter jet-powered drones, aiming for a maximum speed of between 500 and 700 km/h.

“Russia uses almost only jet-powered Shaheds to attack Kyiv because the interceptors that we were using in the past against older generations of drones had an interception rate of around 90 percent,” a Grim Tech manager told Defense News at the show. “By the end of this October, we want to present our jet-powered interceptor.”

BlueBird Tech

Ukrainian defense company BlueBird Tech supplies FPV drones, drone detectors, electronic warfare systems, and unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) to the country’s military. Ahead of the MSPO show, company representatives told Defense News that research-and-development speed is one of the biggest differentiators between BlueBird Tech and its Western counterparts.

“We’ve had to build a very effective R&D system. Our R&D cycles are usually measured in weeks, whereas elsewhere you might expect them to take years,” said Vadym Stepanchuk, head of business development at BlueBird Tech. “We have already announced the development of our air-defense interceptor. It is still at an early stage.”

Stepanchuk said BlueBird Tech wants its interceptor to cost less than the targets it destroys.

“That is one of our fundamental design requirements, and it means we need to get the engineering right from a cost-efficiency perspective,” he said. “That’s the direction we’re pursuing: developing a jet-powered interceptor that can be affordable and mass-producible.”

Export Developments and Partnerships

The latest developments come as Ukraine’s manufacturers prepare for the potential lifting of an arms exports embargo that had prevented them from freely selling their products abroad. Earlier this year, the country’s government decided to establish a regulated framework allowing local defense companies to export surplus military gear to partner nations, provided they first cover the Ukrainian military’s needs. A rising number of Ukraine’s defense companies are also teaming up with U.S. and European partners to have their products manufactured abroad.

At the MSPO show, numerous new partnerships between Ukrainian and foreign companies were forged, including a cooperation agreement signed by Estonia’s counter-drone and surveillance specialist DefSecIntel Solutions and Ukrainian-Estonian DoD Solution, a company focused on onboard computers and autonomy systems for unmanned platforms.

About the Author

Jaroslaw Adamowski is the Poland correspondent for Defense News.

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