Ukrainian interceptor drones destroy over 33,000 enemy UAVs in March – Defense Minister

According to Ukrinform, this was reported on Facebook by Ukraine’s Minister of Defense, Mykhailo Fedorov.

“I met with manufacturers of interceptor drones to gather feedback from the market and determine the next steps for protecting our skies. Interceptor drones are a Ukrainian innovation that has already become a key part of our air defense. In March alone, interceptors shot down more than 33,000 enemy UAVs of various types, including Shahed, Gerbera, Molniya, Zala, Orlan, and others. This is twice as many as last month,” Fedorov said.

According to him, jet-powered Shahed drones pose a key challenge. Russia is scaling up their use, their speed is increasing, and interception is becoming more difficult.

“Our task is to find a technological solution. Together with manufacturers, we analyzed products and their readiness, identified bottlenecks, and coordinated actions for rapid scaling,” the minister emphasized.

At the same time, he noted that Brave1 recently supported 12 technologies under the joint EU grant program EU4UA Defence Tech. Companies will receive up to €150,000 to develop high-speed interceptors (450+ km/h) and advanced systems to counter aerial targets.

“Separately, following the President’s directive, we discussed systemic issues: contracting for 2026, pilot training, testing ranges, shortages of ground stations, exports, and updating performance evaluation criteria within the Army of Drones. Bonus: we are preparing solutions for each problem,” Fedorov added.

The minister recalled that to create and develop the interceptor drone market, the Ministry of Defense team has taken a number of systemic steps. In particular, they launched a unique model of rewarding companies for intercepting Shahed drones. It was within this experimental framework that a Shahed was first shot down by an interceptor drone.

Since 2024, Brave1 has issued more than 40 grants to manufacturers, and today the cluster includes around 100 interceptor drone producers.

The Brave1 Dataroom platform has also been launched – a platform for training and validating artificial intelligence models. Currently, more than 30 companies are testing, validating, and training over 50 AI models for detecting and intercepting aerial targets at different times of day and in various weather conditions.

During the meeting, Fedorov assigned manufacturers two key tasks: to develop and scale jet-powered interceptor drone technologies to counter jet-powered Shaheds, and to develop alternative guidance systems capable of operating in difficult weather conditions.

Fedorov emphasized that the state, under transparent market conditions, is ready to rapidly procure new technologies from manufacturers that effectively meet these challenges and help protect Ukraine’s skies.

As reported, the Defense Procurement Agency, on behalf of Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense, has systematically increased purchases of engineering mines and ammunition for drones.