Jet-powered drones outpace Ukrainian defenses as manufacturers race to
build new interceptors
[October 01, 2026]
By SAMYA KULLAB and VOLODYMYR YURCHUK
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia's new class of jet-powered drones rip across
the night sky in Kyiv at hundreds of kilometers per hour, leaving
Ukrainian air-defense units only moments to intercept them. It's rarely
enough time.
With many of the drones getting through to the capital, defense
manufacturers are scrambling to develop a new generation of interceptors
to counter the deadly threat. They are building their own jet-propulsion
systems and training artificial intelligence to help guide the chase.
They need to move fast because the Russian drones are driving a new
tactic, ramped up in recent weeks, to hit the infrastructure keeping
Ukraine’s war-battered economy afloat. Recent targets have included
energy systems, key industries, railways, post offices, shopping
centers, telecom networks, gas stations and grain exports.
Russia also has an advantage with its ballistic missile arsenal, which
poses another challenge as Ukraine runs low on interceptor missiles.
The effects of the barrage are being felt in Kyiv, which increasingly
resembles a front-line city, without the relative safety that had long
set it apart from the fighting. Food supplies have been disrupted,
explosions echo day and night, and residents scramble for cover from
strikes that reach closer to the city center.
Ukrainian officials say they are testing new interceptors that have
successfully hit jet-powered Russian drones, which fly much higher and
faster than propeller-driven drones and are much harder to stop.
“They’re moving so fast that we can’t get a proper lock on them,” said
Volodymyr Serdiuk, commander of an air-defense unit.
Building the prototype interceptors in sufficient numbers, and training
pilots to fly them, could take up to six months, manufacturers say.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called for faster production.
Air-defense crews have no time to wait. Facing constant waves of drones,
they improvise, but lives are lost almost daily.
Air-defense forces struggle to repel jet-powered drone attacks
Serdiuk's air-defense crew begins their night shift at 8 p.m.
He studies a tablet connected to a centralized radar system to track the
sky above his sector. A circle marks the stretch of airspace his unit is
responsible for protecting.
“It’s like chasing a pig in the forest,” he said of the new drones,
which are based on Iranian-designed Shahed models.
His son is serving on the front line in eastern Ukraine and now calls
him in Kyiv just to check that he is safe, a measure of just how much
life in the capital has deteriorated.
To the west, the lights of Kyiv twinkle on the horizon. To the east, the
green countryside and suburbs stretch into the darkness, with a power
plant visible in the distance.
Then a red marker appears on the screen, moving rapidly across the map.
It's a jet-powered Shahed drone.
“Exit!” someone cries. Serdiuk looks up.
Moments later, the Shahed streaks across the night sky. It is already
beyond his unit’s reach. His team relies on heavy machine guns, but
their rounds cannot match the drone’s speed or altitude.
Then, a flash. Seconds later, the sound of an explosion reaches them
from several kilometers away.
In that particular attack, it was not clear if the blast was from the
Russian drone that flew past them, as official channels reported, or
from a Ukrainian air-defense rocket, as witnesses at the site told The
Associated Press.
The same sequence happened again and again throughout the night.
[to top of second column]
|
A Ukrainian air defense soldier gets ready to repel Russia's drone
attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday evening, Sept. 19, 2026. (AP
Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
Even if the drones pass directly overhead, “the problem is they’re
flying too high" to fire at them accurately, said Sean Almeida, a
former U.S. Marine and volunteer for the unit.
Ukraine’s air defenses use electronic warfare and AI to steer
incoming Russian drones into narrow corridors in the sky, giving
interceptors a better chance of catching them.
But the latest jet-powered Shahed drones are testing that strategy.
The fastest Ukrainian interceptors typically reach 300 to 400 kph
(186 to 248 mph), not fast enough to meet the new threat.
Crews have started training on a new interceptor that includes a
cooling system to keep its batteries from overheating as the drone
is pushed to higher speeds to match the jet-powered enemy.
For now, salvation can appear on a radar screen as a blue blip
representing one of Ukraine’s few F-16 fighter jets, scrambled to
hunt down the fastest drones. They are capable of stopping the
drones, but they need a lot of maintenance. Many are currently out
of service and awaiting repairs.
“It’s very encouraging to see the blue part,” Almeida said.
Casualty reports soon began appearing on news channels. A mother and
her child were killed in Kyiv’s Fastiv district, one said.
The deaths were from the explosion Serdiuk watched from several
kilometers away.
Manufacturers race to scale up production
As air-defense crews hunt drones, Ukrainian engineers are racing to
set up industrial production.
Ukraine had been warned that faster, jet-powered drones were coming,
but manufacturers did not have a ready solution when the new
variants appeared, said Oleksii Babenko, CEO of Vyriy Drones.
Defense companies are now pursuing faster interceptors, new
propulsion systems and autonomous guidance capabilities. The biggest
challenge is scale. Acquiring components, testing designs and
training crews take time.
Miniature turbojet engines are one of the bottlenecks, with much of
the supply coming from European manufacturers whose production
capacity is far below Ukraine’s potential needs.
At least one Ukrainian defense company has successfully tested an
interceptor against the new threat. Babenko estimates it could take
three to four months to scale up and close the gap. Military analyst
Taras Chmut puts the timeline at six months or more.
“Right now, we’re in a race for speed,” Babenko said, “trying to
build faster interceptors and new solutions.”
The improved interceptors cannot come soon enough for Ukrainians
such as Daria Kuchynska.
The 31-year-old had just stepped into the road Friday outside her
Kyiv flower shop when an explosion from a jet-powered drone went off
without warning. The blast threw her to the ground and filled the
street with dust and smoke. Beside her lay an unconscious woman.
Kuchynska checked for a pulse, but the woman was already dead.
“So many people are constantly dying around us. I don’t know how we
survive. It’s simply a matter of luck," she said. “It's unreal.”
All contents © copyright 2026 Associated Press. All rights reserved |
