Solutions to win: Interceptor drones exceeding 600 km/h undergo tests against jet-powered Shaheds in Ukraine
According to him, Russia is gradually replacing conventional Shaheds with jet-powered ones. Because of their higher speed, these drones pose a new threat to Ukraine's air defense system.
Ukraine began systematically developing interceptor drones last year. Since then, manufacturers have received grants through Brave1, conducted tests, and improved their designs.
Several Ukrainian companies already have their own solutions for intercepting aerial targets.
According to Fedorov, the emergence of jet-powered Shaheds is changing the nature of the aerial threat to Ukraine.
Fedorov spoke about one production facility that has created a jet-powered interceptor drone. Thanks to its jet engine, it can accelerate to more than 600 km/h.
The aircraft is currently undergoing combat testing. Developers are waiting for the first confirmed results of its use.
He noted that to counter the new threat, Ukraine must simultaneously:
In Fedorov's view, Ukraine now needs to accelerate work on countermeasures against jet-powered drones significantly.
Background
Back in July, it became known that Russian troops were increasingly using jet-powered drones and Banderol loitering munitions, whose speed characteristics are close to those of cruise missiles, and make the work of Ukraine's air defense more difficult.
Russia tried to set up production of an analog of the jet-powered Shahed-238 — the Geran-3. It is equipped with a small turbojet engine that provides a top speed of 550–600 km/h and a range of up to 2,500 kilometers.
On August 12, it became known that Russia had stopped producing the Geran-3 turbojet drones because they had served as a transitional bridge between the piston-powered Geran-2 drones and more advanced, optimized models. The enemy is now focusing its main efforts on producing and scaling newer jet-powered Geran-4 and Geran-5 drones.
Their airframe has already been designed with the installation of a more powerful Telefly LX-WP-160 jet engine in mind. According to available data, the Geran-4 has a wingspan of about 3 meters and a length of approximately 3.5 meters.
Its external dimensions remain close to those of the previous version, but its takeoff weight has increased from about 350 to 450 kilograms. The use of the new engine should enable an increase in cruising speed without reducing flight range, and available information indicates that the range has also increased.
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