The Come Back Alive Foundation has delivered interceptor drones to the military as part of the “Dronopad” (Let the drones fall – ed.) project.

The Come Back Alive Foundation published the photos on its Facebook page.

A photo shows the transfer of 20 interceptor drones.

Although traditional FPV quadcopters with varying degrees of modification are currently used to intercept enemy reconnaissance drones, several cases of UAVs have also been publicly reported.

For example, at the end of September 2024, an interceptor drone hit the camera lens of the enemy Orlan UAV. The video quickly cuts off, so it is unknown whether the interception was successful.

After analyzing the video, OSINTer EjShahid found that the events took place over Vozdvyzhenka, Donetsk region.

The Dronopad project

The start of the fundraising for the “Dronopad” (Let the drones fall – ed.) project was announced on August 7. The fundraising is open-ended, and it aims to shoot down 1,000 enemy reconnaissance UAVs using modernized FPV drones.

The Dronopad project involves not only the purchase of adapted FPV drones but also creating and providing cover teams with pickups, communications, power, and night optics.

As of October 25, 2024, the project has provided 16 units with everything they need to effectively hunt down enemy UAVs.

The total value of the transferred property is UAH 39,581,680.

According to the Foundation’s reports, as of October 27, 2024, 173 enemy reconnaissance drones had been shot down as part of the project. Of these, 50 were ZALA UAVs, 40 were Supercam UAVs, and 33 were Orlan UAVs.

Interceptor drones

The first organized steps to create interceptor drones were reported in April 2024. Then, the Brave1 cluster announced that it was looking for developers of an effective interceptor drone to destroy Russian reconnaissance drones.

“Our aim is to unite developers and engineers who will create effective solutions to destroy enemy reconnaissance drones such as ZALA, Orlan, and SuperCam,” the statement said.

In April 2024, a Ukrainian kamikaze UAV with an X-shaped wing was presented, which was supposed to perform tasks, including intercepting enemy reconnaissance drones.

In July 2024, Ukrainian developers demonstrated flight tests of a jet drone designed to intercept air targets. According to the MJs information, the Bullet unmanned aerial vehicle system is designed specifically to combat enemy reconnaissance and attack drones and helicopters.

In September 2024, the Ukrainian company Besomar developed an interceptor drone to shoot down Russian drones.

Roman Shemechko, a company representative, told Militarnyi that the interceptor drone was low-costly manufactured and was already being used in the combat zone.

At the same time, in September 2024, the German publication Bild discovered that Ukraine’s defense industry is working to create several separate systems that will destroy different types of drones.

BILD explained the three stages of development of these counter-drone weapons: Phase 1: Kamikaze quadcopters; Phase 2: fixed-wing kamikaze UAVs; and Phase 3: Shahed-type loitering munition.

According to BILD, Ukraine hopes to enter the third phase of its counter-drone program no later than 2025.