Ukraine is preparing new weapons against Russian jet drones: Zelensky revealed details

Ukraine is testing five models of high-speed interceptor drones designed to destroy Russian jet drones. One of the models is planned to be put into production in the amount of about 400 units by the end of October.

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky told the Financial Times about this.

According to the head of state, Ukrainian air defense currently shoots down about 57% of Russian jet drones. For conventional drones, this figure is much higher — 85–90%.

That is why Ukraine is accelerating the development of interceptors capable of catching and destroying high-speed jet UAVs. Zelensky noted that four other models currently remain in the testing stage.

At the same time, the scaling up of production is hampered by a shortage of engines. Ukraine largely imports them, and its own production capacity is not yet sufficient.

“Engines are the key. We really import a lot of them. There are engines of our own production, but there are not enough of them,” Zelensky said.

The president cited the lack of funds in the state budget as another problem. According to him, this also limits Ukraine’s ability to develop and mass-produce the necessary air defense equipment.

Zelensky also said that American F-16 fighters are being used effectively against new Russian jet drones. At the same time, he said, about half of Ukrainian F-16s have been in Europe for a long time for repair and maintenance.

Recall that in Ukraine, two companies successfully tested new interceptor drones designed to combat Shahed jets. During combat tests, one of these interceptors destroyed a Russian drone.

As reported, Ukraine plans to rebuild Kyiv’s defenses to take into account new tactics of Russian air attacks . The changes will concern aviation, air defense, and mobile fire groups.

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