Ukraine’s defense ministry said on Thursday that it has been supplying its troops with roughly 950 interceptor drones every day since the beginning of December.
In its statement, the ministry said these drones were specifically to “counter enemy Shahed-type UAVs.”
Reaching nearly 1,000 daily delivered interceptors is a significant milestone for the production of such drones, which were largely still in prototyping stages at the start of the year.
These interceptors are first-person-view drones designed to fly into and destroy enemy aerial systems, typically using explosives or direct impact. A typical interceptor drone flies with four motor-powered propellers, but unlike the usual quadcopters, it is often shaped like a bullet or a rocket.
Initially built to destroy high-flying reconnaissance craft, they’ve since been evolved by Ukrainians to take down long-range attack drones at a low cost — primarily as a response to Russia launching large waves of Iranian-designed Shaheds this year.
“These systems strengthen protection against drone terror while preserving resources for intercepting cruise and ballistic missiles,” Ukraine’s defense minister, Denys Shmyhal, said in Thursday’s announcement.
The defense ministry also said it’s been working with more than 10 interceptor manufacturers and has placed more orders for next year.
For Ukraine, interceptors must be fast enough to chase down drones such as the Shahed-136, which flies at a typical speed of 115 mph, while remaining cheap so that Kyiv’s troops can sustainably use hundreds of them a day. Russia has recently been attacking with roughly 5,500 Shahed-type drones a month.
Some Ukrainian drone makers have also been attempting to develop interceptors that can catch the Geran-3, the Russian version of the jet-powered Shahed-238, which can reportedly fly at an estimated 230 mph.
Ukraine’s new production capacity comes after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in November that his country was producing roughly 600 to 800 interceptors a day, falling short of his initial goal.
In July, Zelenskyy had set a production target of 1,000 interceptors a day.
Ukraine’s volunteer movements directly sponsor some interceptor drones for select military units, though their quantity is often limited compared to the scale of what the Ukrainian government provides.
For example, deliveries of the Wild Hornets’ Sting, a $2,500 interceptor, were mostly sponsored this year by the Sternenko Foundation, a local crowdfunding organization.
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