One of the most recent weapons concepts — drones destroying drones. Ukrainian wild «Wild Hornets» are developing a drone to destroy «Shahed» as an alternative to air defense.
The drone is designed to pursue and intercept Shahed-136s instead of conventional expensive air defense munitions The Telegraph presents the first FPV photo «Sting» («Sting») and some details.
The developer, the group «Wild Hornets», says that the drone will fly at speeds of over 160 km/h at an altitude of up to 3 km. It is a quadcopter with an unusual large dome with explosives, which is upwardly inclined relative to the main plane and has a camera on top. The UAV is piloted from the ground using VR glasses. The drone is equipped with an AI-based targeting system that improves accuracy.
«Its average cost is ten times lower than that of a Shahed drone», — say «Wild Hornets».
Drones are currently successfully destroying Russian reconnaissance drones «Orlan» and «Zala». The «Sting» will be the first drone specifically designed to hunt «Shahed». According to the latest data, Russia produces more than 6,000 «Shahed» UAVs per year and plans to increase this volume to 10,000. Russia launches up to 80 drones a day in Ukrainian cities. Frequent air attacks are depleting Ukrainian air defense capabilities.
In addition to drones, mobile groups and acoustic detection network enemy drones Electronic warfare systems knock the attack UAVs off course, causing them to crash in the fields.