“Every three months we must update our drones because the Russians find countermeasures. Only the long-range attack drone Liutyi, one of the largest in our fleet, has undergone more than 200 modifications since its creation. One of the smallest models we used on the battlefield, the Shrike, was produced in only a few hundred units per month at the start of the conflict. Today we have reached over 70,000.” This is what a Ukrainian Ministry of Defence official, attending the Farnborough International Airshow in England, told Adnkronos in an interview.
At the Ukrainian stand some of the remotely piloted aircraft currently used in the fight against Russia are on display. Military experts from around the world are highly interested: these drones are tangible evidence of how the conflict has become a continuous technological war, where innovation moves so fast that solutions considered cutting-edge become obsolete within months. “These aircraft are no longer just tools for the front line,” the official—who preferred to remain anonymous for security reasons—explains, “but platforms capable of reshaping the conflict’s strategic map. It is with aircraft like the Liutyi, which can carry a 50-kilogram warhead, that our forces have struck key targets deep inside Russian territory, including oil refineries and facilities near Moscow and St. Petersburg. Alongside these operate jet-powered models such as the Peklo, able to fly up to 700 km/h with a range of 700 kilometers.”
The volume of firing reflects an unprecedented quantitative escalation on both sides, the Kyiv representative says: “Russia sends between 300 and 400 drones over Ukrainian skies each night, combining Shahed attack drones, decoys and reconnaissance UAVs. On our side, we respond by launching thousands of drones daily, including FPV aircraft, interceptors and reconnaissance systems.” These figures are corroborated by Adrian Yablonskyi, manager at Skyfall, a Ukrainian company that specializes in building remote aerial platforms. “At the start of the conflict we produced only a few hundred per month, using technology that today I would call medieval, even though only four years have passed since the war began. Today we manufacture hundreds of thousands of units per month, including the smallest model used by our army, the Shrike—25 centimeters long, able to carry up to 3 kilograms of munitions, cruise at up to 120 km/h and travel up to 30 kilometers.”
Using these inexpensive domestically developed interceptor drones, Kyiv achieves a 95 percent shoot-down rate of Russian kamikaze drones, neutralizing between 250 and 270 drones on an average wave of 300. Electronic warfare, however, severely shortens the service life of reconnaissance UAVs on the front: a reconnaissance drone today has an estimated lifespan of three to five days. This dynamic highlights a deep economic imbalance. As the Ukrainian representative notes: “Trying to counter mass attacks with only traditional weapon systems is unsustainable. Consider the Middle East: if a city like Dubai were attacked by 300 drones in one night and attempted to stop them with Patriot missiles costing millions each, the financial toll would be devastating. Sustainability depends on inexpensive FPV drones, originally costing around $500, which can inflict significant damage at very low cost.”
Despite Ukraine’s technological updates and production capacity, the Defence Ministry sees the conflict as potentially endless. “Above all, it is a wearing process that will not stop because the technology keeps evolving,” the Kyiv official concludes, “and it could soon threaten other European countries, from the Baltic states to Poland and even Italy. With low-cost, mass-produced drones, any location in the world can become a potential military target.” For this reason, Kyiv aims to lead European and NATO partners by sharing its frontline experience, combining Western technology with its own capacity to produce cheap, effective drones at industrial scale, with the goal of using them to defend national territories. (by Alessandro Allocca)
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