April 2, 2026: Currently, a third of Russian drones are destroyed by Ukrainian interceptor drones that cost about $4,000 each. Two-thirds of interceptions by these drones destroy their targets. Ukraine produced 100,000 interceptor drones in 2025 and expects to produce nearly a million of these drones this year. Frontline units received an average of over 1,500 interceptor drones per day in December and January. In one recent month Interceptor drones flew 6,300 sorties and destroyed more than 1,500 Russian drones. Ukraine is building a fifteen kilometers deep drone live along its 1,100 kilometer long front line.

This is nothing new as Ukraine developed a drone that could intercept and destroy other drones two years ago. This was achieved using FPV\First Person Viewing operated drones to detect the enemy drone and destroy it by colliding with it. While the first FPV drones were quadcopters, the interceptor drones are faster fixed wing models that look like remotely controlled model aircraft. The soldier operating the FPV was a kilometer or more away and used FPV goggles to see what the day/night video camera on the drone could see. Adding night vision doubles the cost for each drone, so not all of them have that capability. Each of these drones carries half a kilogram of explosives, so it could instantly turn the drone into a flying bomb that could fly into a target and detonate. This was an awesome and debilitating weapon when used in large numbers over the combat zone.

The interceptor drones are used to take down Russian reconnaissance and surveillance drones that locate targets for Russian artillery and for air strikes by manned aircraft or explosives equipped FPV drones that could go after a moving target. Unlike manned aircraft, drones are smaller and slower with top speeds of 100 to 150 kilometers an hour, and only operate at low altitudes under 1,600 meters. Note that these drones are still unable to catch helicopters, which they could damage. Fixed wing aircraft, like jet fighters, are another matter as they rarely fly low enough for the drones to reach, much less hit such a fast moving aircraft. The Ukrainians have been able to incorporate the new interceptor drone capability into their air defense systems, which means the air defense radars and fire control systems recognize drones large enough and metallic drones to show up on radar. Modern aircraft tracking radars are not designed to detect, much less track, small slow and low flying drones.

The Russian solution to this Ukrainian interference was to send more surveillance drones accompanied by attack drones as a way to overwhelm the Ukrainian air defense system. Sometimes this works, for a while, but the Ukrainians are generally faster to improvise and modify systems that don’t work until they do. Russian forces rely more on massive use of whatever they have. This sometimes works because, as the Russians like to point out, quantity has a quality all its own. That worked until it didn’t as the Ukrainians found ways to quickly overwhelm Russian defensive measures and destroy more of their artillery target spotting and reconnaissance drones in several areas. If the Ukrainians could continue to manufacture lots of these interceptor drones that simply collide with their targets, the Russians are in big trouble because Ukrainian artillery could operate more freely and effectively and suffer lower losses.

So far, the Ukrainians have not demonstrated they can mass produce enough of these attack drones to become a major problem for the Russians. Ukraine does have access to large manufacturing facilities in NATO countries. The problem was whether or not NATO countries move quickly enough to provide more manufacturing for new drone designs Ukraine needs. The Ukrainians have become accustomed to innovating and then manufacturing new drones quickly. Manufacturers in the United States, Europe, and Russia are not accustomed to going that way. They might be if, like Ukraine, they were fighting for survival.