I had my breakfast this morning at the sound of a Shahed drone flying over my neighborhood. Annoying buzzing bastard.
Anyway.
Ukrainian air defence keeps knocking those things off in new creative ways. For the first time in the history of warfare (yes, you hear this phrase often in the Ukraine war) a Shahed drone was shot down by an interceptor drone launched from a naval drone. A Ukrainian-made innovation out on the earlier Ukrainian-made innovation.
It’s important to shoot down drones over the sea for many reasons. Those can be reconnaissance drones, those can be attack drones that hit port infrastructure too often. And they kill people like last night in Odesa.
An interceptor that was used for the hit was STING produced by Wild Hornets. The company promises they will be used in the sea on a regular basis.
Commander of the drone unit of the Nemesis brigade Yuri Kochevenko (this brigade was among the first to start using interceptors a year ago) said the speedboat from which the interceptor is launched should be special too. Unlike a kamikaze drone, this one is reusable and has to be able to maneuver while staying undetected.
Another challenge was detecting targets over the sea. Typically, interceptor drone operators spot enemy “Shaheds” using small radars, while larger radar or sensor systems provide early warnings of their approach. These small radars can track both the interceptor drone and the target simultaneously, allowing the operator to “bring them together” in the air and eliminate the threat.
However, such small radars have a limited range, making it harder to control the interceptor over long maritime distances.
According to commander Yurii Kochevenko, successful interceptions at sea require a whole комплекс of different radars and sensors integrated into a single system.
This is what Ukraine shares with its partners through drone deals. Those have been already signed with Middle Eastern countries, as well as some European. Instead, Ukraine needs more anti-ballistic capabilities. I have already mentioned Fire Point, a company with an ambition to arm Ukrainian forces with the Ukrainian analogue of Patriot system.
But moreover, President Zelenskyy wants to build joint European anti-ballistic air defence. “I believe—and my idea is—that we should have a European anti-ballistic system. We are talking with several countries and working in this direction. We are giving tasks to our companies, but we need to build our own anti-ballistic system within a year.”
When asked whether this is realistic to achieve in a year, Zelensky replied: “It is realistic. It is very difficult, but the question lies in the components.”
I’d love to get back to this topic at this time next year and tell you we have it.