Latest news with #interceptor
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Ukraine bets big on interceptor drones as low-cost air shield
By Max Hunder DNIPROPETROVSK REGION, Ukraine (Reuters) -When President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said at the end of last month that Ukraine needs $6 billion to fund the production of interceptor drones, setting a target of 1,000 a day, he had his reasons. Having already reshaped the battlefield by doing work once reserved for long-range missiles, field artillery and human intelligence, drones are now fighting Russian drones - a boon for Ukraine's dwindling stock of air defence missile systems. In the last two months, just one Ukrainian charity supplying aerial interceptor drones says its devices have downed around 1,500 of the drones that Russia has been sending to reconnoitre the battlefield or to bomb Ukraine's towns and cities. INTERCEPTORS HELP TO SAVE VALUABLE MISSILE STOCK Most importantly, such interceptors have the potential to be a cheap, plentiful alternative to using Western or Soviet-made air defence missiles, depleted by allies' inability, or reluctance, to replenish them. Colonel Serhiy Nonka's 1,129th air defence regiment, which started using them a year ago to ram and blow up enemy drones, estimated that they could down a Russian spotter drone at about a fifth of the cost of doing so with a missile. As a result, the depth to which these enemy reconnaissance drones can fly behind Ukrainian lines has decreased sharply, Nonka said. Some estimates put the interceptors' speed at over 300 kph (190 mph), although the precise figures are closely guarded. Other units are using interceptors to hit the long-range Shahed "kamikaze" drones that Russia launches at Kyiv and other cities, sometimes downing dozens a night, according to Zelenskiy. In the three and a half years since Russia invaded Ukraine at scale, drones have gone from an auxiliary tool to one of the primary means of waging war for both sides. To chase them down, interceptor drones need to be faster and more powerful than those that have already revolutionised long-range precision strikes and aerial reconnaissance. INTERCEPTOR DRONES TO BECOME UBIQUITOUS Like the First-Person View drones that now dominate the battlefield, interceptor drones are flown by a pilot on the ground through the video feed from an onboard camera. 'When we started to work (with these drones), the enemy would fly at 800 or a thousand metres," the officer who spearheaded their adoption by the 1,129th regiment, Oleksiy Barsuk. "Now it's three, four or five thousand – but their (camera) zoom is not infinite.' Most of the regiment's interceptor drones are provided by military charities that crowdfund weapons and equipment through donations from civilians. Taras Tymochko, from the largest of these, Come Back Alive, said it now supplies interceptors to 90 units. Since the project began a year ago, the organisation says over 3,000 drones have been downed by equipment it provided, nearly half of them in the last two months. However, such interceptors are still no match for incoming missiles or the fast jet-powered attack drones that Moscow has recently started deploying. The organisation reports the value of the downed Russian craft at $195 million, over a dozen times the cost of the drones and equipment handed over under the project. Sam Bendett, adjunct senior fellow at the Centre for a New American Security, said Russian forces were complaining about the effectiveness of large Ukrainian interceptors, but were also 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."
Forbes
01-08-2025
- Politics
- Forbes
Russia Ramps Up Shahed Attacks, But Interceptors Take Them Down
Month-end figures confirm what had been obvious all through July: Russia has continued to escalate the scale of attacks by Shahed-type drones, with a record number of drones launched yet again. But a close look shows that this is not the full story. In fact, less drones got through in July than June, despite the rise in the number of attacks. It looks like Ukraine's drive to deploy interceptor drones is taking effect. The pictures of damaged apartment blocks, buildings on fire and children in underground shelters tell their own story. Russia is waging a ruthless war of terror on Ukraine's civilians, trying to crack morale with a ceaseless drone and missile bombardment. But Ukraine is fighting back. War By Numbers The Ukrainian Air Force releases daily statistics on its Telegram channel showing the number of drones launched and the number downed. The way these are reported has changed, as we will see. The total number launched in July was 6,295, up from 5,438 in June. But the rise in attacks was not reflected in the number of hits. The number that got through in July was 711, down from 760 in June. The intercept rate, the proportion of drones brought down by guns, missile, interceptors or by electronic warfare went up from 86% to 89% . In May the intercept rate was 82%. So even though more drones are being launched, rather than crumbling under the extra weight as the Russians will have hoped, the defense seems to be getting stronger. There are several caveats to go with this. Firstly, these are Ukrainian figures, and Russian supporters dismisses them as propaganda, even though they tally with observations on the ground about the size and temp of attacks. Secondly, these drones are not all Shaheds. The Iranian-designed drones, now largely made at a giant facility in Alabuga in Russia, are accompanied by smaller types including the Gerbera, Parodiya, and Italmas drones, and possibly others. These are smaller, lower-cost drones with shorter range and more vulnerable to electronic warfare and the Ukrainian Air Force used to collectively refer to them as 'decoys' even though some carry warheads. We have even seen a Shahed with a dummy wooden warhead, assumed to be gathering information about defensive systems, which would also count as a decoy. Thirdly, the Ukrainian Air Force previously reported electronic warfare and decoy losses separately, but everything is now ,lumped together so we have a less detailed picture of losses. But, as OSINT analyst Cyrus notes, there is a sharp uptick in the intercept rate after the middle of the month, which coincides with the deployment of interceptor drones. Layered Defence The mass drone attacks a layered defence. Shaheds are easy to shoot down individually, but sheer numbers makes them dangerous. U.S-supplied Patriot missiles can take them out easily, but the U.S. can only make 650 of the multimillion dollar Patriots PAC-3 a year, whereas Russia can launch more Shaheds than that – up to 728 – in one night. Defences include a nationwide electronic warfare system to confuse the drones' guidance, hundreds of mobile defence teams with anti-aircraft machine guns, anti-aitrcraft vehicles like the German-supplied Gepard, plus aircraft and helicopters. Recently the Shaheds have been flying at high altitudes, making ground-based defense less effective. More images of Ukrainian F-16s and other aircraft bristling with air-to-air missiles on combat patrols have been appearing, and video of them shooting down Shaheds. Again though, with one AIM-9X Sidewinder costing a quarter of a million dollars to shoot down a $50k Shaheds, sheer numbers are against the defenders. The idea defence is as inexpensive and easy to mass produce as the Shaheds, and Ukrainian developers have come up with a range of interceptor drones for the job. Earlier modified FPVs have been highly effective at brining down Russian reconnaissance drones. New high-performance interceptors with better range, speed and guidance are now hitting the Shaheds, at a cost of a few thousand dollars each. Types reportedly in service include the Sting made by wild Hornets, ODIN's Win_Hit and the AngryCat made by Venator Technologies, and images have emerged of unidentified types. Ukraine's diverse drone ecosystem has been working overtime to come up with solutions. Operational security means we hardly ever see images of the new interceptors in action. It is significant that a recent video of air-to-air drone hits lists 261 kills including 48 Lancet and 96 Molniya attack drones – but not a single Shahed. Understandably, there appears to be an embargo on reporting or showing such kills. All we can do is watch the numbers. Cat And Mouse This is not, as Winston Churchill might said, the beginning of the end for the drone campaign. The Russians are already working in ways of countering interceptors, including jamming, automatic evasion, and a new model of Shahed with a jet engine to outpace them. We can expect quick responses from Ukraine as they work out ways to counter the countermeasures. Ultimately the only way to stop the attacks may be to target the manufacturing facilities. But the main factory at Alabuga is huge – at over 800,000 square feet it is the size of 14 football fields – making it a difficult target for drones with small warheads without precise information about the location of vulnerable machinery. The drone war will continue. Meanwhile, Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian oil storage, railway and other targets are also ramping up – and the Russian defences appear considerably less effective.
Reuters
01-08-2025
- Politics
- Reuters
False alarm prompts Israeli interceptor launch near Gaza Strip
Aug 1 (Reuters) - Sirens sounded in Israeli communities near the Gaza Strip on Friday, prompting the military to launch an interceptor missile towards a suspected threat, the Israeli military said. The military later confirmed that the launch was triggered by a false alarm, and no threat was detected. Israeli media reported on Friday that U.S. Middle East peace envoy Steve Witkoff is visiting a food distribution centre in Gaza.
Yahoo
11-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Kyiv to allocate $6.2 million to drone interceptor program
KYIV (Reuters) -Kyiv will allocate 260 million hryvnias ($6.2 million) for a drone interceptor program to defend the capital's skies from Russian drones, city authorities said on Friday. Russia has stepped up its combined attacks on the Ukrainian capital in recent weeks, launching hundreds of drones and missiles in hours-long night assaults which caused damage to most of the city districts. "These funds will be used not only to purchase equipment, but also to create an effective response system," the head of Kyiv city military administration Tymur Tkachenko wrote on the Telegram messaging app. The city said it planned to involve additional funds outside the existing budget, without specifying how much will be needed. Tkachenko said a pilot project had proven its initial effectiveness by intercepting almost 550 drones launched by Russia to attack the Kyiv region in the last few months. The deadly attacks have prompted Ukrainian leaders to renew their urgent calls for air defence help from allies. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has also reported on the successful use of interceptor drones to help repel large attacks and said work was ongoing on scaling the technology. At the Ukraine Recovery Conference this week, he mentioned investment in this type of air defence in meetings with Dutch, German, and American partners. Authorities plan to open a center for training interceptor drone operators and creating additional mobile units in the capital and its suburbs, Tkachenko said.
LBCI
23-06-2025
- LBCI
Interceptor debris sparks fire in south Lebanon area
Debris from an interceptor missile triggered a fire in an area between Majdal Selm and Khirbet Selm in southern Lebanon, local reports said.
