Estonia’s KrattWorks crafting Shahed-like dummy drone for target practice

WARSAW, Poland — Estonian unmanned aerial system producer KrattWorks is developing a new aerial target drone that will mimic the operations of jet-powered Shahed-type drones, enabling militaries to practice shooting down one of the main aerial threats used by Russia in its ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

As part of its international expansion plans, the company is promoting its unmanned solutions at this year’s AUSA conference in Washington as it seeks to strengthen its presence in the United States.

The company is pushing the project as numerous anti-drone system producers in Ukraine and other European countries are striving to make their interceptors cheaper than the targets they are meant to strike, and also suitable for mass production using readily available components.

Ranno Pajuri, business development manager at KrattWorks, told Defense News the new dummy drone is expected to be presented by the end of 2027.

“We need to obtain a working prototype that is reliable enough. The good thing is that we have software which can be adapted to different hardware quite easily,” he said. “But if the drone becomes so much different from what we have today and so much faster, then there are many variables to consider before it is stabilized and ready for a demonstration.”

The Ukrainian Army, to which the Estonian company has supplied one-way attack drones as well as other products such as its Ghost Dragon ISR drone, is one of the potential users of the new solution. KrattWorks has delivered its UAVs to customers in Europe, and the company is currently making efforts to boost its foothold in the United States as well as various markets in Asia and Africa. KrattWorks says its Ghost Dragon ISR systems have also been deployed in Estonia, Georgia and Moldova, among others.

“We produce our drones in Estonia. We have enough extra capacity to ramp up the production if the demand will grow. Aerial target drones are usually made within quite a short lead time,” Pajuri said. “But we are open to some level of transfer of production if this is necessary and the demand is large enough in the country to which we are selling our products.”

KrattWorks says its product portfolio includes the DART fixed-wing aerial target, which is intended for use against air-defense missiles, heavy machine guns and anti-aircraft cannons, and the DART-R, an aerial target decoy fitted with a radar reflector that can reach a maximum speed of 200 km/h (124 mph), according to data from the company. KrattWorks also makes the PARM aerial target quadcopter.

The manufacturer said it “builds ISR drones with wide frequency band-hopping radios and GNSS-free flight modes to help first responders and servicemen to gain fast situational awareness in situations where every second counts.”

The business cooperates closely with the Ukrainian Armed Forces and studies the UAV attacks that take place in Ukraine and the evolving tactics used there to improve its products. KrattWorks makes efforts to ensure that its aerial target drones mimic the latest operational trends and act in a realistic manner, the company representative said.

In its September 2026 report on Russia’s use of UAVs against Ukraine, the Institute for Science and International Security, a Washington-based think tank, said the Russian military used an estimated 5,166 Shahed-type drones, including decoys, against Ukrainian targets in August alone.

Meanwhile, the Office of the President of Ukraine said on Sept. 28 that the country’s military had reached an overall drone shoot-down rate of 70%, including both piston-powered and jet-powered Shaheds.

“But for jet-powered ‘Shaheds,’ unfortunately, the rate is much lower than it needs to be – 57%,” the office said in a statement. “New interceptors are being actively tested. Some combat teams are already using them, but of course, some details still need to be refined to ensure sufficient effectiveness and deployment at scale. We are pushing the developers to move faster.”

Jaroslaw Adamowski is the Poland correspondent for Defense News.

波兰华沙——爱沙尼亚无人机系统生产商 KrattWorks 正在开发一种新型空中靶机，该靶机将模拟喷气式 Shahed 型无人机的操作，使各国军队能够练习击落俄罗斯在持续入侵乌克兰期间使用的主要空中威胁之一。

作为其国际扩张计划的一部分，该公司正在今年于华盛顿举行的 AUSA 大会上推广其无人解决方案，以期加强其在美国的影响力。

该公司正在大力推进该项目，因为乌克兰和其他欧洲国家的众多反无人机系统生产商都在努力降低其拦截器的成本，使其比其要打击的目标更便宜，并且能够使用现成的组件进行大规模生产。

KrattWorks 的业务发展经理 Ranno Pajuri 告诉《防务新闻》，新的模拟无人机预计将于 2027 年底推出。

“我们需要获得一个足够可靠的工作原型。好消息是，我们的软件可以很容易地适配不同的硬件，”他说。“但如果无人机与我们今天的无人机差别太大，速度也快得多，那么在它稳定下来并准备好进行演示之前，有很多变量需要考虑。”

爱沙尼亚公司KrattWorks已向乌克兰军队提供了单向攻击无人机以及其他产品，例如其“幽灵龙”（Ghost Dragon）ISR无人机，乌克兰军队也是这项新解决方案的潜在用户之一。KrattWorks已向欧洲客户交付了无人机，目前正努力扩大其在美国以及亚洲和非洲多个市场的份额。KrattWorks表示，其“幽灵龙”ISR系统也已部署在爱沙尼亚、格鲁吉亚和摩尔多瓦等国。

“我们的无人机在爱沙尼亚生产。如果需求增长，我们有足够的额外产能来提高产量。空中靶机的生产周期通常很短，”帕尤里说。“但如果必要，并且我们产品销售国的需求足够大，我们也愿意进行一定程度的生产转移。”

KrattWorks公司表示，其产品组合包括DART固定翼空中靶机，该靶机旨在对抗防空导弹、重机枪和高射炮；以及DART-R空中靶机诱饵，该诱饵配备雷达反射器，根据该公司的数据，其最高速度可达200​​公里/小时（124英里/小时）。KrattWorks公司还生产PARM空中靶机四旋翼飞行器。

制造商表示，他们“制造的ISR无人机配备宽频跳频无线电和无GNSS飞行模式，以帮助应急人员和军人在分秒必争的情况下快速掌握态势感知。”

该公司与乌克兰武装部队密切合作，研究乌克兰境内发生的无人机袭击事件及其不断演变的战术，以改进其产品。公司代表表示，KrattWorks致力于确保其空中靶机能够模拟最新的作战趋势，并以逼真的方式执行任务。

华盛顿智库科学与国际安全研究所在其 2026 年 9 月发布的关于俄罗斯使用无人机攻击乌克兰的报告中称，仅在 8 月份，俄罗斯军方就使用了约 5166 架“沙赫德”型无人机（包括诱饵无人机）攻击乌克兰目标。

与此同时，乌克兰总统办公室于9月28日表示，该国军队的无人机击落率已达到70%，其中包括活塞式和喷气式“沙赫德”无人机。

“但对于喷气式‘烈士’导弹来说，不幸的是，其完成率远低于所需水平——仅为57%。”该办公室在一份声明中表示。“新型拦截机正在积极测试中。一些作战小组已经在使用它们，但当然，一些细节仍需完善，以确保足够的效能和大规模部署。我们正在敦促研发人员加快进度。”

Jaroslaw Adamowski 是《防务新闻》驻波兰记者。