Soldiers of one of the special forces units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine shot down an enemy ZALA reconnaissance drone using a night FPV drone.

The Come Back Alive Foundation published the video.

It is reported that the night FPV drone was purchased as part of the ‘Dronefall’ project.

Ukrainian Defense Forces have long been using night FPV drones, but the video released by the foundation is the first, at least official, evidencing use of such a drone as a means of air defense.

Drones as air defense

On September 6, Militarnyi reported that the operators of the 93rd Mechanized Brigade’s interceptor drones shot down fifty enemy reconnaissance drones in the Toretsk sector in a short time.

A SIGNUM Strike Drones Company from the 93rd Mechanized Brigade, which is involved in the defense of this area, destroyed 49 Russian UAVs in a short time.

The lion’s share of the downed enemy UAVs were hit within a relatively short 20-kilometer-long stretch of frontline that stretches from Toretsk and Kostiantynivka.

It was also recently reported that the Ukrainian company Besomar has developed an interceptor drone to shoot down Russian drones.

A “kamikaze interceptor” intercepts Russian drones as they approach.

The Dronefall project

The Dronefall project covers not only the purchase of adapted FPV kamikaze drones, but also the creation and provision of groups that will use them. In particular, it involves the transfer of pickup trucks, communications, power and night optics.

“FPV drones are an effective solution to combat enemy spies, but kamikaze drones alone are not enough,” the foundation emphasized.

The downing of reconnaissance drones using FPV drones has already become quite common, and we regularly write about it. One of the latest examples—”Kherson region: A Ukrainian FPV drone rammed a Russian UAV Supercam”.

In addition, at the beginning of July, the Ukrainian Defense Forces hit the operators of a Russian Supercam reconnaissance drone near the village of Varvarivka in the Luhansk region.

Due to the low speed of reconnaissance drones, the speed of an FPV drone as an interceptor is enough to catch up and engage it.

This is done at an altitude that ensures more stable communication with the operator, who, in turn, can destroy the enemy UAV.

To increase efficiency, FPV interceptor drones can be adapted to the following tasks: warhead, communications, etc.