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Ukraine’s interceptor drones are fighting against Russia’s new jet-powered Geran-3 attack drones.
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Russia has deployed 138 Geran-3 drones, which are faster and more advanced than the Geran-2 models.
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Ukrainian developers are quickly adapting drone technology to meet evolving Russian drone threats.
Russia’s new high-speed attack drones are increasingly appearing on the battlefield, but Ukrainians say they have already destroyed some with cheap interceptors.
Serhii Sternenko, the leader of a volunteer organization that specializes in donating drones to Ukrainian units, said on Sunday that the Sting — a locally built interceptor drone — had successfully destroyed several jet-powered attack drones.
“A somewhat historic achievement,” Sternenko wrote in his Telegram channel. He posted a photo that appears to show the back of a jet-powered Geran-3 in the sky, indicating that the footage was captured by an aircraft fast enough to catch the Russian drone.
The announcement is another sign of how Ukraine is finding ways to counter the growing threat of jet attacks, amid concerns that Russia’s new drones are too fast to be reliably destroyed by cheap means.
On Sunday, Ukraine’s General Staff said in a monthly briefing for officials that Russia had already deployed 138 of the new unmanned aerial systems.
This turbojet drone is the Geran-3, Russia’s domestic version of the long-range Iranian Shahed-238 munition. With an estimated top speed of 230 mph, the Geran-3 flies much faster than its propeller-driven predecessor, which the Kremlin has been using to bomb Ukraine in large waves over the past year.
The Geran-2, modeled after the Shahed-136, flies at around 115 mph and is now the mainstay of Moscow’s bombing strategy.
Russia routinely amasses these mass-produced drones to send large waves across the border, combining them with hundreds of decoys to defeat Ukraine’s air defenses. Kiev officials said Geran-2s could cost at least $20,000 each.
A challenge for new interceptors
In response, the Ukrainians are developing interceptor drones, or small first-person view drones modified to fly at high speed, as a low-cost way to counter the Geran-2. Each one typically costs between $2,000 and $6,000, and they are now considered a crucial part of Ukraine’s air defense system, working alongside machine gun crews and a range of other interceptors.
The Sting, the interceptor mentioned by Sternenko, is one of these drones that is deployed frequently. It was developed by the Ukrainian company Wild Hornets to fly at about 215 mph with four rotors.
Ukraine has seen limited use of interceptor drones to bring down the Shahed, but in recent months has been leading the way in development to counter Russia’s growing wave of drones.Wild Hornets/Telegram
Sporadic sightings of the Geran-3 over the past year, however, have raised fears that these interceptor drones are too slow to catch waves of jet-powered Shaheds.
If that becomes the case, the war will revive Ukraine’s main struggle to defend against such large-scale airstrikes: cost. The country is already strapped for resources and cannot afford to use expensive traditional missiles to take down cheap Russian drones.
The latest General Staff update said that Ukraine has destroyed most of the 138 Geran-3s used by Russia recently, but it is not clear by what means.
Senior Ukrainian officials told Business Insider’s Jake Epstein last month that Russia is experimenting with the Geran-3 to test and probe Ukraine’s defenses.
But they also said that Moscow deployed the new drones in limited numbers. This indicates that Russia has yet to enter mass production on the scale it achieved with the Geran-2.
The Geran-3 is far more advanced than the Geran-2, of which Russia produces thousands every month, with newer features such as a satellite navigation system that improves resistance to electronic warfare.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian drone developers previously told Business Insider that they were preparing for the possibility of the Geran-3 taking to the skies.
The deputy head of Ukraine’s presidential office, Pavlo Palisa, said in September that Kyiv had already developed drones “capable of fighting the Shaheds with jet engines.” However, he did not reveal details about these new interceptors.
Read the original article on Business Insider