A new generation of faster and deadlier attack drones is being launched against Ukraine, forcing engineers to develop more advanced interceptor drones to take out waves of Russian attacks. Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukraine’s president, says four new devices are in testing that will help to tip the balance, as the country suffers a surge of attacks from the new drone models on targets such as petrol stations. Since the start of the conflict, Russia has launched daily strikes using Shahed drones powered by petrol engines similar to those in motorcycles.
Ukraine relies on layers of air defence – including fighter jets, machine guns, missiles and interceptor drones – to try to bring them down before they hit civilian or military targets. But the latest jet-powered models are harder to shoot down, sparking a hasty research-and-development effort. How Ukraine became a drone factory and invented the future of war On 30 August, Zelenskyy said that over half the drones deployed by Russia are now jet-powered Geran-4 models.
The attack drones were originally designed by Iranian company Shahed Aviation Industries but were licensed to Russia, which manufactures them under the name Geran. They are known colloquially in Ukraine as Shahed. A spokesperson for the Ukrainian government defence innovation department Brave1 told New Scientist that the problem is speed.
Older Shaheds used to fly between 100 and 150 kilometres per hour, but the jet-powered updates can reach 500 kilometres per hour. Russia is constantly experimenting and adapting its Shaheds to make them harder to intercept.” One new trick is an updated jet engine that shrouds its heat signature, making it harder to detect for certain countermeasures that home in on hot objects. New types of electronic-warfare devices are also being built into Shaheds, and some even have rear-facing cameras to detect interceptor drones and trigger evasive manoeuvres.
To tackle this new threat, Ukraine will need to develop a new generation of interceptors, capable of speeds of at least 450 kilometres per hour and fitted with AI control. Brave1 is working closely with the Ukrainian air force to develop and test a fleet of more capable, but still low-cost, interceptors. Four varieties are currently under consideration.
One type will be winged drones with jet engines similar to the new Shaheds, another will have an impeller for propulsion, and a third will be familiar quadcopter drones with extremely advanced motors and batteries and some aerodynamic tweaks that allow them to reach the needed speeds. This requires advanced terminal guidance using optical, thermal or other sensing methods, with as little reliance on human reaction time as possible,” says the spokesperson. It’s noisier, louder – not like a conventional motorcycle engine, more like a plane.
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