KYIV — Ukraine is being pounded by relentless Russian drone attacks and its allies aren’t supplying enough air defense systems — forcing Kyiv to develop its own interceptor drones.

It’s part of an ongoing race as one side improves its drone technology, forcing the other to react in an endless and deadly cycle.

“Our mobile air defense squads started losing their efficiency. Shahed drones are now flying at high altitudes. Our electronic warfare systems become less relevant because Russians have been using more powerful antennas, suppressing our EW,” said Serhii Beskrestnov, a consultant to the Ukrainian military and head of Radio Technologies Center, an NGO.

Only in July, Moscow sent 6,275 Shahed drones against Ukraine, with more than 355 coming in the first few days of August, according to Ukrainian air force statistics. Russia’s evolving drone attacks make it harder for Ukrainian air defense forces to shoot them down and is exhausting air defense stocks.

“So, the only means left were our aviation and expensive Western air defense missiles. But we do not have enough helicopters and jets, and we do have a critical dependency on Western air defense systems supply,” Beskrestnov added. “However, it is unreasonable to waste expensive missiles, as we would never get enough to keep shooting down thousands of drones.”

Instead of firing interceptor missiles from U.S. Patriot systems, which each cost about about $4 million, or €400,000 for those from the European IRIS-T, to knock down Iranian-designed Shahed drones costing $50,000, Ukraine is developing its own interceptor drones that cost $1,000 to $5,000 per unit.

“We had to come up with cheaper tool — anti-aircraft interceptor drones,” Beskrestnov said.

Interceptor drones come in both winged and copter types; their human pilots steer them toward their targets.

The interceptors are equipped with digital communications systems which allow them rise to higher altitudes; they can then accelerate to a speed of about 330 kilometers per hour before hitting their targets.

“It needs to be faster than Shahed, which flies 200 kilometers per hour, and this drone has to find, catch, and destroy it,” Beskrestnov said.

Interceptors are a more accurate and effective use of air defense in the fight against the mass of enemy drones, said Rudolf Akopian, director of strategic communications with the Ukrainian military tech company General Cherry. Dozens of Russian drones were shot down by Ukrainian interceptors in recent attacks, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said.

When the alert sounds, Ukraine’s land-based radar stations detect the trajectory of the Russian kamikaze drones.

“Our mobile air defense units get the signal when the drone will show up in their sector, and they prepare. Nowadays, some of them are equipped with interceptors instead of machine guns,” Beskrestnov said. Drone pilots usually have about 15 minutes of flight time to find the enemy drone in the sky, catch up with it and then either smash into it, shoot it down or blow up next to it — depending on the model of interceptor.

“It is a matter of time when we start shooting down Shaheds en masse,” Akopian said.

Boosting production

Ukraine already has a huge domestic drone production industry — one that’s gaining the attention of its allies for its ability to produce vast numbers of drones at low cost while continually upgrading their technology. Boosting interceptor production is a question of time and money.

Zelenskyy has set a new goal of making 1,000 interceptors a day. However, so far, the country has only signed four contracts worth 3 billion hryvnia (€62 million) — a far cry from the estimated $6 billion needed to ramp up all forms of drone production and to train more pilots.

Ukraine has started developing the market for drone interceptors, Ukrainian Defense Minister Denys Shmyhal said last month. Last week, Kyiv also widened its special contracts for young recruits willing to be drone pilots. The two-year contract offers a 1 million hryvnia bonus.

While state is only catching up, Ukraine’s volunteer organizations have been supplying interceptors to the military for about a year.

 “State institutions are less flexible compared to business. So, a business with its R&D centers will always respond more quickly to the situation and needs on the front. This is what has given us Ukrainians an advantage since the beginning of the full-scale invasion,” Akopian said.

“Now, the main thing is to focus on what works and think about new technologies,” Akopian added. “The situation is changing so quickly on the battlefield. The government and the structures of the Ministry of Defense and the General Staff must give the green light to new developments. Starting with the import of components for manufacturers, ending with the operational adoption of proven technical solutions.”

Russia adapts and Ukraine reacts

But the interceptor drones are not a magic bullet that will end the threat of Russian air attacks.

During its massive attacks, the Russian military launches killer drones from the north, east and south simultaneously. “Shaheds concentrate around one city and at one point attack it, ” Beskrestnov said. “And in this way, they overload our air defense. Therefore, we cannot technically afford to place anti-aircraft drones all over the country, in all cities, in all regions, in all forests, swamps, and so on. Can you imagine the number of pilots we need to cover everything?”

And the Kremlin is likely to respond to the interceptors by improving Shaheds.

Russians might switch to jet engines, making their drones faster and more difficult to catch. “But this will also make Shahed production more complex and expensive. They already sent the first Shaheds with reactive engines, but we have not seen many so far,” Beskrestnov said.

“Our enemy does not sleep and has already started using tactics of countermeasures against our anti-aircraft drones — difficult maneuvering to complicate the work of our interceptors,” Beskrestnov said.