Ukrainian industry scrambles to field interceptors against Russian jet drones

KIELCE, Poland — As Russia’s military is increasingly relying on jet-powered drones in its war against Ukraine, Ukrainian defense companies are intensifying their efforts to counter the threat while striving to make the interceptors cheaper than the targets they strike.

A number of anti-drone system producers from Ukraine are showcasing their solutions to military and industry representatives from Poland and other countries at this year’s MSPO defense industry show in Kielce, Poland, which runs from Sept. 8 to 11.

Ukraine’s UAV producer General Cherry is among the companies that are working on solutions to counter the threat that Russian jet-powered drones pose to the Ukrainian military. The company is developing a new kinetic booster version of its Bullet interceptor that is to have a maximum speed of some 450 km/h (280 mph).

“We have to make changes to the frame and the materials the drone is made of, using more heat-resistant materials,” Andrii Oliinyk, the senior international affairs manager at General Cherry, told Defense News at the event. “We plan to release it this fall after the testing phase is completed.”

Grim Tech, another vendor based in Ukraine, is developing a new interceptor designed to counter jet-powered drones, aiming to enable its new interceptor with a maximum speed of between 500 and 700 km/h.

“Russia uses almost only jet-powered Shaheds to attack Kyiv because the interceptors that we were using in the past against older generations of drones had an interception rate of around 90 percent,” a Grim Tech manager told Defense News at the show. “By the end of this October, we want to present our jet-powered interceptor.”

Ukrainian defense company BlueBird Tech supplies FPV drones, drone detectors, electronic warfare systems and unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) to the country’s military. Ahead of the MSPO show, company representatives told Defense News that research-and development speed is one of the biggest differentiators between BlueBird Tech and its Western counterparts.

“We’ve had to build a very effective R&D system. Our R&D cycles are usually measured in weeks, whereas elsewhere you might expect them to take years,” said Vadym Stepanchuk, the head of business development at BlueBird Tech. “We have already announced the development of our air-defense interceptor. It is still at an early stage.”

Stepanchuk said BlueBird Tech wants its interceptor to cost less than the targets it destroys.

“That is one of our fundamental design requirements, and it means we need to get the engineering right from a cost-efficiency perspective,” he said. “That’s the direction we’re pursuing: developing a jet-powered interceptor that can be affordable and mass-producible.”

The latest developments come as Ukraine’s manufacturers are readying for the potential lifting of an arms exports embargo that had prevented them from freely selling their products abroad. Earlier this year, the country’s government decided to establish a regulated framework that allows local defense companies to export surplus military gear to partner nations, provided they cover the Ukrainian military’s needs first. A rising number of Ukraine’s defense companies are also teaming up with U.S. and European partners to have their products manufactured abroad.

At the MSPO show here, numerous new partnerships between Ukrainian and foreign companies were forged, including a cooperation agreement signed by Estonia’s counter-drone and surveillance specialist DefSecIntel Solutions and Ukrainian-Estonian DoD Solution, a company focused on onboard computers and autonomy systems for unmanned platforms.

Jaroslaw Adamowski is the Poland correspondent for Defense News.

波兰凯尔采——随着俄罗斯军队在对乌克兰的战争中越来越依赖喷气式无人机，乌克兰国防公司正在加紧努力应对这一威胁，同时努力使拦截器比它们打击的目标更便宜。

在今年 9 月 8 日至 11 日于波兰凯尔采举行的 MSPO 防务工业展上，来自乌克兰的多家反无人机系统生产商向来自波兰和其他国家的军方和行业代表展示了他们的解决方案。

乌克兰无人机生产商General Cherry公司是致力于应对俄罗斯喷气式无人机对乌克兰军方威胁的众多公司之一。该公司正在研发其“子弹”拦截机的新型动能助推器版本，最高速度可达约450公里/小时（280英里/小时）。

“我们必须对无人机的框架和制造材料进行改进，使用更耐热的材料，”通用切里公司高级国际事务经理安德烈·奥利尼克在活动上告诉《防务新闻》。“我们计划在测试阶段完成后，于今年秋季发布这款无人机。”

另一家总部位于乌克兰的供应商 Grim Tech 正在开发一种新型拦截器，旨在对抗喷气式无人机，目标是使其新型拦截器的最大速度达到 500 至 700 公里/小时。

“俄罗斯几乎只使用喷气式‘沙赫德’无人机攻击基辅，因为我们过去用来拦截老一代无人机的拦截机拦截率只有90%左右，”格林科技公司的一位经理在展会上告诉《防务新闻》。“到今年10月底，我们计划推出我们的喷气式拦截机。”

乌克兰国防公司BlueBird Tech向乌克兰军方供应FPV无人机、无人机探测器、电子战系统和无人地面车辆（UGV）。在MSPO展会前夕，该公司代表告诉《防务新闻》，研发速度是BlueBird Tech与其西方同行之间最大的区别之一。

“我们必须建立一套非常高效的研发体系。我们的研发周期通常以周计，而其他地方可能需要数年时间，”BlueBird Tech公司业务发展主管瓦迪姆·斯捷潘丘克表示。“我们已经宣布了防空拦截器的研发工作。目前仍处于早期阶段。”

斯捷潘丘克表示，蓝鸟科技公司希望其拦截器的成本低于其摧毁的目标。

“这是我们的基本设计要求之一，这意味着我们需要从成本效益的角度做好工程设计，”他说。“这就是我们努力的方向：开发一种价格合理且可大规模生产的喷气式拦截机。”

最新进展正值乌克兰制造商为可能解除武器出口禁运做准备之际。此前，武器出口禁运曾阻碍他们自由向海外销售产品。今年早些时候，乌克兰政府决定建立一套监管框架，允许本土国防企业向伙伴国家出口剩余军用装备，前提是必须首先满足乌克兰军方的需求。越来越多的乌克兰国防企业也正与美国和欧洲的合作伙伴携手，在海外生产产品。

在本次MSPO展会上，乌克兰和外国公司之间建立了许多新的合作伙伴关系，其中包括爱沙尼亚反无人机和监视专家DefSecIntel Solutions与乌克兰-爱沙尼亚国防部解决方案公司签署的合作协议，该公司专注于无人平台的机载计算机和自主系统。

Jaroslaw Adamowski 是《防务新闻》驻波兰记者。