The fighting in Ukraine is leading to a new kind of drone war: hit-to-kill intercepts

• The heavy war in Ukraine has increased the number of hit-to-kill drone interceptions of other drones.

• Kiev and Moscow are increasingly using drones to neutralize enemy systems above the battlefield.

• This new tactic is pushing Ukraine to develop drones specifically for interception roles.

A new type of warfare is rapidly emerging in the disputed airspace above Ukraine, as drones are increasingly sent on new attack missions. Their targets are not armored vehicles or combat positions – they are other drones.

Combat footage from the war in Ukraine has repeatedly captured these hit-to-kill interceptions, in which a cheap drone crashes into another unmanned aircraft. This practice is a cost-effective air defense option that both the Ukrainians and Russians use and purposefully pursue.

Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine’s Minister for Digital Transformation, reported on Telegram in April that his country was hunting for interceptor drone solutions to shoot down Russian surveillance assets, the frontline eyes for attack drones, and Russian artillery, “without wasting air defense assets. .”

Nataliia Kushnerska, a senior executive in Ukraine’s defense industry, told Business Insider that using unmanned systems in this way “marks the emergence of an entirely new segment of modern warfare: drone-on-drone combat.”

A new tactic in the evolving drone war

Drones have dominated the battlefield for much of the war in Ukraine and are used for land, sea and air missions. Low-cost first-person view (FPV) drones are often used to conduct precision strikes on enemy armor and troop positions, while larger systems gather intelligence.

But as the war has continued, drones have increasingly been used in an air defense role to shoot down enemy unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) conducting reconnaissance and attack missions. These dogfights can sometimes resemble the fierce dogfights of the World Wars.

A team that makes combat FPV drones reported in August that its modified drones had taken out 100 Russian UAVs. The Wild Hornets, as the operation calls itself, shared images of some of the interceptions.

Kushnerska, the chief operating officer of Brave1, a Ukrainian government platform that enables innovation within the country’s defense industry, said interceptor drones have become “one of the innovations of this war.”

The tactic, she said, makes it harder for Russia to use its drones deep behind the front lines and gather data to facilitate missile and drone attacks on Ukrainian positions, which has been a real challenge for Ukraine as Russia pushes for expansion of his reconnaissance attack. complex. This also gives Kiev more flexibility in conducting its military operations and maneuvers.

Kushnerska said Ukraine was the first to use drones to intercept Russian reconnaissance UAVs, but Moscow has since adapted to the tactic and found ways to evade the interceptors. Efforts are now being made to improve the systems so that they remain effective.

It is the latest version of what a senior Ukrainian official previously described to BI as a cat-and-mouse game between Kiev and Moscow, with each side continually trying to outdo the other in developing drones and other war-related technology.

Samuel Bendett, an expert on drones and Russian defense issues at the Center for Naval Analyses, said BI Moscow is similarly using FPV drones to disable Ukrainian systems and that Russia has also equipped its drones with defenses against interceptor drones, such as electronic warfare. jam systems.

Bendett said the Ukrainians “have become very successful in using their FPV drones against Russian ISR assets, and the Russians have become to some extent successful in using their FPV drones to go after Ukrainian heavy quadcopter UAVs to engage.”

Interceptor drones have limited range and height and often have less explosive power than more traditional air defense systems such as missiles. Drones offer Ukraine and Russia an alternative way to take down aerial threats, with the cost of interception often lower than that of the targeted system.

Kushnerska said an interceptor drone typically costs between $2,000 and $4,000. An air defense missile, on the other hand, could cost hundreds of thousands – or even millions – of dollars. The use of drones reduces reliance on more expensive munitions and gives Ukraine’s air defense units time to focus on bigger threats such as Russian aircraft and deadlier cruise missiles and ballistic missiles.

Chase more interceptor drones

For the Ukrainian soldiers who have to intercept Russian drones, it is a dangerous mission.

A drone operator in the Ukrainian army told BI that he operates from trench shelters near the front lines. He said the pilots are priority targets for Russia, which will use “everything it has at its disposal” to eliminate them.

The Ukrainian operator said drone-on-drone battles are increasing. He said he sometimes uses interceptor drones as many as five times a week. But Ukraine needs more.

Kiev has taken steps to purchase more of these interceptor drones. For example, last month a Ukrainian drone engineering company announced that it had completed testing for a new FPV drone designed to shoot down Russian reconnaissance UAVs such as the Orlan and was ready for military use.

But more needs to be done. Valeriy Romanenko, a former air defense officer and now a researcher at the Ukrainian State Aviation Museum, told BI that Kiev’s interceptor drones are good for slower reconnaissance UAVs at lower altitudes.

However, he said Kiev will ultimately need faster interceptor drones to take down Russia’s deadly attack drones, such as the infamous Shahed-136. According to Western intelligence, Moscow fired about 2,000 of these systems into Ukraine in October alone.

The Wild Hornets have been working on a new ‘Sting’ UAV to effectively combat the Shaheds, but that is a work in progress.

This hit-to-kill interception tactic has implications far beyond Ukraine and could be used in future conflicts. Mick Ryan, a retired Australian Army major general and strategist, said the use of drones for interceptions was likely to be an here to stay part of military operations.

“This is a trend that will continue unless there is a fundamental breakthrough in very cheap anti-drone systems, which we are not seeing at the moment,” he told BI. “I think this is a here to stay type of capability that a lot of militaries should be looking at.”

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