Anti-drone drone developed by Ukraine to take out Iranian-designed kamikazes

Developers say its latest innovation can fly faster than 100mph and at altitudes nearing 10,000ft

Ukraine is developing a drone capable of intercepting Russia’s Iranian-designed kamikaze drones, The Telegraph can disclose.
The new weapon will be deployed to chase down and intercept Shahed-136s instead of conventional air-defence munitions to protect Ukrainian cities against Russian barrages.
This is the first time a photograph and details of the classified “Sting” first-person view (FPV) Shahed-hunter have been made public.
Its developers, the Wild Hornets group, say their latest innovation will be able to fly faster than 100mph and at altitudes nearing 10,000ft.
The Sting is a classic quad-copter design with a large dome protruding upwards from its centre, where the warhead and camera is fitted.
It will be piloted from the ground using VR goggles that allow the operator to see exactly where it is flying.
A future development will have an artificial intelligence targeting system that will enable the pilot to lock on to enemy targets.
Similar drones have been used to intercept Russian surveillance drones that fly high and slow over the battlefield gathering intelligence for artillery and missile units.
Videos showing Ukrainian drones crashing into Russian Orlan and Zala drones have been circulated on social media with increased frequency as Kyiv’s forces turn to UAVs to take down surveillance systems.
But the Sting will be the first drone specifically developed to target the Iranian-designed Shahed drones launched by Russian forces.
Russia is now producing over 6,000 Shahed-style drones at a plant in Yelabuga, in the southeastern Tatarstan region, per year.
Its forces fire between 30 and 80 of the loitering munitions in the direction of Ukrainian cities each day.
The volume of attacks has proven to be a challenge for Ukraine’s air-defence units, which are running low on costly, Western surface-to-air missiles.
“Its average cost is dozens of times lower than that of the Shahed drone,” a Wild Hornet source said of the Sting drone.
It is hoped that by using low-cost suicide drones to destroy incoming Shahed drones, Ukraine will be able to conserve its stockpile of air-defence missiles for what has become a long-range war of attrition with Russia.
Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky said earlier this month that his country was on pace to build 1.5 million drones this year. He intends to eventually boost production to around four million annually.
Earlier this year, Ukraine launched an Unmanned Systems Force, the world’s first military branch dedicated to drone warfare.
Kyiv has secured billions of dollars of funding from its Western allies for the purchase and production of drones.
But Wild Hornets says it still needs more cash in donations from the public if it is going to be able to produce enough drones to tackle the Russian-launched Shaheds.
Ihor Lachenkov, a Ukrainian influencer with more than 1.5 million followers on the Telegram messaging app, who is helping raise funds, said: “This marks a new era in the development of air defence technologies worldwide.
“To support the capabilities of Ukrainian manufacturers, we are striving to involve as many people as possible in fundraising efforts. Currently, Russia is increasing its capabilities with the help of allied states, particularly Iran and North Korea.
“We must resist – there is no other choice. That is why it is crucial to support Ukrainian funds involved in FPV drone development through donations.”