Ukraine Begins Supplying Domestic Radars to Military to Intercept UAVs

Ukraine has launched the production of its own tactical radar stations to detect UAVs, which are used by drone interceptor units.

Taras Tymochko, a consultant to the Come Back Alive Foundation, told this in an interview with Oboronka.

The summer of 2024 was the starting point when the Ukrainian military began to actively fight Russian reconnaissance drones, which are a key element in the work of Russian artillery, missile units and aviation.

Drones became the main means of destroying enemy drones, but behind the scenes of dozens and hundreds of published videos, another key element remained – Western tactical radars, which provided target detection and guidance of interceptors to them. The compact size of the devices allowed the operators to work near the front line where classic large radars would immediately come under attack.

With the increase in anti-aircraft UAV units, the supply of foreign radars ceased to satisfy demand, so the necessary alternative was found in one of the Ukrainian defense enterprises.

“The enemy is actively hunting for our radar stations. Sometimes he succeeds, and sometimes he doesn’t, because we have already begun to counteract this. But now there are no problems with the presence of these radars,” says the consultant of the Come Back Alive Foundation.

However, Taras Tymochko notes that there is a very high demand for Ukrainian radar stations among the Ukrainian military:

“The military is very praising. The queue to receive a model from one domestic factory is already 13 months. Just six months ago, the queue was 6 months. That is, our manufacturer lacks scalability. Demand is growing, but production capacity cannot keep up with it,” he says.

According to him, Ukrainian and foreign tactical radars have certain differences. Western-made models common in the military have a larger operating radius and can detect objects at a distance of more than ten kilometers.

In turn, Ukrainian technology is also simpler and more stable in use by interceptor operators, since it was made specifically for the task of intercepting UAVs. This favorably distinguishes them against the background of Western radars that are more difficult to master, which have many settings and operating modes.

Currently, the Foundation notes that the greatest difficulties are with training people.

“We have a very limited number of training centers where the pilots for interceptor drones are trained, and we have to look for alternatives. For example, I often ask units with extensive experience to take on inexperienced units for internships.

As practice shows, this training is faster than usual. But there is another side. A unit that should spend its time and efforts on interception spends time on training its subordinates,” says Taras Tymochko.