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Ukraine’s Answer to Russian Jet Drones Could Arrive This Month—Small Anti-Aircraft Missiles
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Ukraine expects to begin deploying several types of small anti-aircraft missiles against Russian jet-powered drones in the second half of October.
The announcement was made by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a joint press conference with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in Kyiv on October 4.
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According to Zelenskyy, the new interceptors have not yet been deployed operationally, but Ukraine expects to see the first results later this month.
“There are several types of them. We will obviously see the results this month. Toward the end, in the second half of this month, we expect to see the results. You asked about their use and how widespread it is. So far, there has been no such use. It is yet to happen,” Zelenskyy said in response to a journalist’s question.
The president added that production of the missiles could be rapidly scaled up if they demonstrate strong results in intercepting Russian drones.
The planned deployment is part of Ukraine’s broader effort to develop new systems capable of countering Russia’s increasingly frequent use of high-speed, jet-powered attack drones. Ukraine is also developing five high-speed interceptor drone models for this purpose, Zelenskyy told the Financial Times, as reported by RBC-Ukraine on October 2.
One of the five designs has advanced sufficiently for production to potentially reach around 400 units by the end of October, while the remaining four are still undergoing testing.
Alongside new air defense capabilities, Ukraine is working to expand its domestically produced long-range strike weapons. The country expects its FP-9 ballistic missile, which its manufacturer says has sufficient range to reach Moscow, to be ready this fall.
Zelenskyy told Reuters on October 3 that he had personally contacted Ukrainian defense manufacturer Fire Point and urged the company to accelerate development of the FP-9 following the first combat use of Ukraine’s shorter-range FP-7 ballistic missile.
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