Drones Fight Other Drones in the Battle For Ukraine’s Skies
Ukraine is increasingly using interceptors to destroy Russian drones, and its best pilots are often young videogame aces.
POKROVSKE, Ukraine—The Russian drone hovered above the wounded Ukrainian soldier, ready to drop a bomblet to finish him off. Suddenly, a Ukrainian drone smashed into the Russian craft, blowing it up and saving the soldier.
The close call showed the latest development in the futuristic aerial war shaping the front lines of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine: drone-on-drone battles.
Drone pilots—like the one from Ukraine’s 3rd Separate Assault Brigade who swooped in this spring—fly interceptors at high speeds close to or into Russian drones and trigger an explosion to bring them down.
Countering the enemy’s drones has become an critical challenge for both sides, as the craft have become the deadliest weapons menacing infantry and vehicles on the front lines. Soldiers use a variety of means—from nets and shotguns to electronic jammers and aging prop planes—to take out drones.
Interceptor craft have become an important part of the mix in the past year or so.
“Nobody believed that it could be possible at all” 15 months ago, said Artem Boliukh, chief of the brigade’s air-defense unit. Boliukh said that drones hadn’t been used in this way before and engineers had to solve technical issues such as range, the ability to recover drones and the safety of operators. Also, pilots must learn how to find and engage the target in a very narrow window of time.
“Modern warfare changes very quickly,” he said.
In September, the brigade’s drones intercepted 886 Russian drones, up from 507 in June. Around 50% of missions result in a successful interception, Boliukh said, compared with 5% a year ago. When an interceptor doesn’t hit its target, the operator is usually able to bring it back to be used again.
Like many aspects of drone warfare introduced in this war, such interceptions will be a future component of combat, defense analysts say. Defense companies are rushing to develop their own interceptors. A company founded by Eric Schmidt, the former Google chief executive, provides one of Ukraine’s most popular.
Just as important as the new technology are the pilots putting it to use. Aviators and air-defense units have vied to be their side’s top air ace ever since the feats of Germany’s Manfred von Richthofen, the Red Baron, in World War I.
Now, top guns also fly drones.
Many of them are young, with quick reactions honed on videogames. The pilot who saved the soldier in spring was a 24-year-old former computer-game developer who goes by the call sign Kratos and plays the flute in between interceptions.
The 3rd Separate Assault Brigade said that since late January, Kratos has achieved Ukraine’s highest tally for intercepting Russian Mavics, commercial drones used by both sides for reconnaissance or dropping explosives.
That tally includes the rescue of the wounded Ukrainian soldier, which was made possible after his team was tipped off by an intercepted Russian radio message calling for a drone to strike.
“It is the stuff that happens in movies, TV shows and books, but here we are in life and death situations every day,” said Kratos, who is named after a character from “God of War,” a popular series of videogames.
Kratos said he has made over 380 confirmed drone interceptions since Jan. 20, and says he’s achieved many more. The Wall Street Journal is unable to verify the claim, but in October, he was granted Ukraine’s prestigious Cross of Combat Merit.
Different types of drones are used for different interceptions. Russia’s long-range Shaheds pummeling Ukrainian cities can be caught by drones able to fly at the same high speeds and altitudes.
Merops, the interception system produced by Schmidt’s company, is a Ukrainian favorite for this task. When roughly a mile from its target, it uses artificial intelligence to lock on, follow the drone and detonate, according to its users. Merops can travel at speeds of over 180 miles an hour and reach an altitude of up to around 16,000 feet, according to one user. This user said each drone cost around $5,000 for his unit. A U.S. official at the Polish test quoted a cost of around $15,000, which is still a far cheaper solution than missiles.
No system is infallible. The user said his Merops intercepts between 65% and 75% of the Shaheds it chases. On a recent test in Poland, a Polish air-defense crew flew a Merops at a target that imitates Shaheds but it missed. Poland has said it would order the system.
Other Western companies are developing interceptors. Swedish startup Nordic Air Defence, for instance, is testing interceptors as light as nine ounces that can smash into drones at altitudes up to around 6,000 feet.
Yuriy Ihnat, a spokesman for Ukraine’s air force, said Ukraine is scaling up its use of interceptors, but that they have their limitations, such as when poor weather prevents operators from seeing the target. Bullets and missiles have typically been the predominant defense.
The 3rd Separate Assault Brigade has its own laboratory where it puts together drones from imported components and 3D-printed parts. For those it buys, the brigade often switches out components for more reliable ones, such as batteries and the controller that detonates the explosive.
“I want my crew to be safe,” said the brigade’s head of interceptors, whose call sign is Betsyk.
Sgt. Mykhailo Kudliak, a pilot in the Presidential Brigade’s 3rd Mechanized Battalion, hunts Shaheds and has downed as many as three in one night.
Operators say they need more interceptors to counter the growing number of Russian craft.
Anton Mykhailov, Kudliak’s co-pilot, said they sometimes have to choose between going in for the kill or preserving the interceptor for another day.
On a recent night, they were chasing a Shahed to a distance beyond which they wouldn’t be able to return their interceptor if it missed. They decided to chase the Shahed but it soon disappeared into the clouds, wasting a drone. Soon afterward, they learned the Shahed had hit a school.
The interceptor pilots’ job is full of highs and lows.
Ruslan Stakhov, a junior sergeant in the same unit, typically uses a drone that intercepts Russian surveillance drones and has downed around 25 of them. A few months ago he gave chase to a Shahed, but as it entered its final descent, his drone couldn’t keep up. Stakhov, a father of four, watched as the Shahed destroyed a house where he had once taken his car to be fixed.
“It was very upsetting, but that is a typical situation in war,” said Stakhov, who was a commercial lawyer before the full scale invasion. “We are not magicians.”
Write to Alistair MacDonald at Alistair.Macdonald@wsj.com
POKROVSKE, Ukraine—The Russian drone hovered above the wounded Ukrainian soldier, ready to drop a bomblet to finish him off. Suddenly, a Ukrainian drone smashed into the Russian craft, blowing it up and saving the soldier.
The close call showed the latest development in the futuristic aerial war shaping the front lines of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine: drone-on-drone battles.
Drone pilots—like the one from Ukraine’s 3rd Separate Assault Brigade who swooped in this spring—fly interceptors at high speeds close to or into Russian drones and trigger an explosion to bring them down.
Countering the enemy’s drones has become an critical challenge for both sides, as the craft have become the deadliest weapons menacing infantry and vehicles on the front lines. Soldiers use a variety of means—from nets and shotguns to electronic jammers and aging prop planes—to take out drones.
Interceptor craft have become an important part of the mix in the past year or so.
“Nobody believed that it could be possible at all” 15 months ago, said Artem Boliukh, chief of the brigade’s air-defense unit. Boliukh said that drones hadn’t been used in this way before and engineers had to solve technical issues such as range, the ability to recover drones and the safety of operators. Also, pilots must learn how to find and engage the target in a very narrow window of time.
“Modern warfare changes very quickly,” he said.
In September, the brigade’s drones intercepted 886 Russian drones, up from 507 in June. Around 50% of missions result in a successful interception, Boliukh said, compared with 5% a year ago. When an interceptor doesn’t hit its target, the operator is usually able to bring it back to be used again.
Like many aspects of drone warfare introduced in this war, such interceptions will be a future component of combat, defense analysts say. Defense companies are rushing to develop their own interceptors. A company founded by Eric Schmidt, the former Google chief executive, provides one of Ukraine’s most popular.
Just as important as the new technology are the pilots putting it to use. Aviators and air-defense units have vied to be their side’s top air ace ever since the feats of Germany’s Manfred von Richthofen, the Red Baron, in World War I.
Now, top guns also fly drones.
Many of them are young, with quick reactions honed on videogames. The pilot who saved the soldier in spring was a 24-year-old former computer-game developer who goes by the call sign Kratos and plays the flute in between interceptions.
The 3rd Separate Assault Brigade said that since late January, Kratos has achieved Ukraine’s highest tally for intercepting Russian Mavics, commercial drones used by both sides for reconnaissance or dropping explosives.
That tally includes the rescue of the wounded Ukrainian soldier, which was made possible after his team was tipped off by an intercepted Russian radio message calling for a drone to strike.
“It is the stuff that happens in movies, TV shows and books, but here we are in life and death situations every day,” said Kratos, who is named after a character from “God of War,” a popular series of videogames.
Kratos said he has made over 380 confirmed drone interceptions since Jan. 20, and says he’s achieved many more. The Wall Street Journal is unable to verify the claim, but in October, he was granted Ukraine’s prestigious Cross of Combat Merit.
Different types of drones are used for different interceptions. Russia’s long-range Shaheds pummeling Ukrainian cities can be caught by drones able to fly at the same high speeds and altitudes.
Merops, the interception system produced by Schmidt’s company, is a Ukrainian favorite for this task. When roughly a mile from its target, it uses artificial intelligence to lock on, follow the drone and detonate, according to its users. Merops can travel at speeds of over 180 miles an hour and reach an altitude of up to around 16,000 feet, according to one user. This user said each drone cost around $5,000 for his unit. A U.S. official at the Polish test quoted a cost of around $15,000, which is still a far cheaper solution than missiles.
No system is infallible. The user said his Merops intercepts between 65% and 75% of the Shaheds it chases. On a recent test in Poland, a Polish air-defense crew flew a Merops at a target that imitates Shaheds but it missed. Poland has said it would order the system.
Other Western companies are developing interceptors. Swedish startup Nordic Air Defence, for instance, is testing interceptors as light as nine ounces that can smash into drones at altitudes up to around 6,000 feet.
Yuriy Ihnat, a spokesman for Ukraine’s air force, said Ukraine is scaling up its use of interceptors, but that they have their limitations, such as when poor weather prevents operators from seeing the target. Bullets and missiles have typically been the predominant defense.
The 3rd Separate Assault Brigade has its own laboratory where it puts together drones from imported components and 3D-printed parts. For those it buys, the brigade often switches out components for more reliable ones, such as batteries and the controller that detonates the explosive.
“I want my crew to be safe,” said the brigade’s head of interceptors, whose call sign is Betsyk.
Sgt. Mykhailo Kudliak, a pilot in the Presidential Brigade’s 3rd Mechanized Battalion, hunts Shaheds and has downed as many as three in one night.
Operators say they need more interceptors to counter the growing number of Russian craft.
Anton Mykhailov, Kudliak’s co-pilot, said they sometimes have to choose between going in for the kill or preserving the interceptor for another day.
On a recent night, they were chasing a Shahed to a distance beyond which they wouldn’t be able to return their interceptor if it missed. They decided to chase the Shahed but it soon disappeared into the clouds, wasting a drone. Soon afterward, they learned the Shahed had hit a school.
The interceptor pilots’ job is full of highs and lows.
Ruslan Stakhov, a junior sergeant in the same unit, typically uses a drone that intercepts Russian surveillance drones and has downed around 25 of them. A few months ago he gave chase to a Shahed, but as it entered its final descent, his drone couldn’t keep up. Stakhov, a father of four, watched as the Shahed destroyed a house where he had once taken his car to be fixed.
“It was very upsetting, but that is a typical situation in war,” said Stakhov, who was a commercial lawyer before the full scale invasion. “We are not magicians.”
Write to Alistair MacDonald at Alistair.Macdonald@wsj.com
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