Ukrainian Paratroopers Invent New Way to Intercept Drones Using Fishing Rod

Soldiers of the 46th Separate Airmobile Podilsk Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine have demonstrated a new method of intercepting enemy drones using a fishing rod and a cord.

The brigade’s press service released the video of the incident.

The footage captures a fishing rod with a cord mounted on a Mavic drone. The end of the cord is likely attached to a small weight to provide the necessary tension.

During an interception, the Ukrainian drone approaches the target from above, after which the Russian drone’s propellers become entangled in or damaged by the cord.

As a result, the enemy drone loses control and crashes.

Based on the video, at least two enemy quadcopters were intercepted in this way.

The footage also shows an attempted interception of a Molniya fixed-wing kamikaze drone, which appears to have been unsuccessful.

Despite the originality of using a fishing rod, the concept of reusable kinetic drone interception is not new. Variants of ramming using rigid extensions have been employed for some time.

Such methods have been in use at least since mid-2024, when FPV interceptor drones began to be deployed on a large scale.

As a result, there was a need to make interceptor drones reusable. To achieve this, operators began fitting drones with rigid rods used to strike the engine or propellers of enemy drones.

Following the impact, the propellers were damaged, the drone lost thrust, could not maintain its flight path, and fell.

This method has been used against both fixed-wing drones and quadcopters. In many cases, however, the interceptor drone also lost control and crashed.

Using a fishing rod could, at least in theory, make the interception process safer.

The weighted cord does not require a rigid attachment: it can slip free from the ring, entangling the enemy drone and causing it to fall, while the Ukrainian drone avoids excessive load and is not pulled down with the target.