Ukraine is building and fielding a growing fleet of new high-speed interceptors to hunt down Russia’s fastest attack drones as Kyiv looks to fill gaps in its air defenses.
Ukrainian company Wild Hornets said on Monday that a tactical air defense unit used the firm’s new Sting S interceptor to shoot down a Russian Geran-5 jet-powered drone.
A Wild Hornets spokesperson told Business Insider that it was one of several Geran-5 drones shot down over the last few days, along with roughly a dozen slower Geran-4 jet-powered models.
The interceptions mark the first results from combat testing for the new interceptor, an evolution of Wild Hornets’ popular bullet-shaped Sting drone, the spokesperson said. They added that the company will begin mass production after the trial period wraps up.
Most of the Russian drones destroyed during combat testing were eliminated by interceptors that were operated remotely through the company’s “Hornet Vision Ctrl,” the spokesperson said. This technology allows Sting pilots to work hundreds of miles from the launch point in a safe location.
The upgraded Sting interceptor is one of several systems that Ukraine is pursuing. On Saturday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy shared footage of what he characterized as a new interceptor developed by an unnamed manufacturer and “successfully deployed” by the SBU, the country’s main internal security agency.
This interceptor features a delta-wing airframe similar to older Geran models, such as the Geran-2. This shape profile distinctly differs from that of the Sting family.
The SBU said the delta-wing interceptor shot down a Geran-5, one of Russia’s most advanced attack drones that can fly at speeds of nearly 375 mph and carry a 200-pound explosive warhead, according to Ukrainian intelligence.
Russia frequently used the piston-engine Geran-2, a domestically produced version of Iran’s Shahed-136, to attack Ukrainian cities earlier in the war. However, after Kyiv found effective ways to counter the drones, Moscow developed three variants powered by mini turbojet engines that cruise at speeds exceeding 200 mph.
The Geran-5, the newest and fastest variant of the Geran family, more closely resembles a cruise missile than its predecessors.
Russia has expanded the infrastructure at its air bases to support the launch of jet-powered drones, and Ukrainian intelligence warned in May that Moscow planned to start using them in attacks more often.
Ukraine’s air force said that Russia launched 2,800 jet-powered drones in August, compared to 350 in June. Defending against these jet drones has proven challenging for Kyiv; interception rates fell from at least 90% for propeller models to 60% for jet models.
Ukraine has used fighter jets and surface-to-air missiles to engage the jet-powered drones, and is now prioritizing the development of faster interceptors to strengthen its arsenal.
It’s unclear how fast the interceptors will fly once they enter mass production or how expensive they will be. Older generations typically cost several thousand dollars — a fraction of their target’s value.
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