UAV-interceptors shoot down 76 Shahed UAVs in one night - Kamyshin
Drones are taking a leading place in every segment of conventional warfare, for example, two weeks ago the Ukrainian Defense Forces shot down 76 Shahed UAVs with interceptor drones in one night, said Oleksandr Kamyshin, the advisor to the President of Ukraine on strategic issues.
“Yes, this is still much less than we want, but almost 100 Shahed UAVs have already been captured by interceptor drones. So, drones are finally taking their place in every segment of conventional warfare,” he said at the 20th annual YES conference, which was organized in Kyiv by the Pinchuk Foundation.
Kamyshin emphasized that with the chosen strategy in the defense industry, Ukraine is currently not lagging behind Russia in terms of scaling.
“We are ready to catch up with them in every segment of drones – from FPV to large strike aircraft,” said the presidential advisor.
At the same time, he stated that this year Ukrainian manufacturers received contracts for only a third of the capacities they have in the country, and this is quite painful.
"And we are not talking about contracts for three to five years, like the European defense industry. We would be very happy to receive a one-year contract. So at the moment we are ready to expand. We are ready to catch up with Russia," Kamyshin emphasized.
He acknowledged the complexity of the issue of Chinese components, but noted that with the production of more than 2 million FPV drones, like last year, it becomes profitable to launch the production of components in Ukraine than to import them from abroad. "Yes, it will be twice as expensive. Yes, at the moment it (the component) will be of lower quality. But they will expand the scale and improve it in months, not years. So the answer is quite simple. We will do it," he said.
European Commissioner for Defense and Space Andrius Kubilius noted that Europe should be very interested in such cooperation with Ukrainian manufacturers, because it is necessary to build a protective wall of drones and an acoustic surveillance system and other elements of the drone ecosystem, which was once again proven by the attack on Poland. According to the European Commissioner, Europe is currently not ready for a possible attack by the Russian army, which is stronger than it was in 2022 and is capable of using millions of drones.
Kubilius recalled that the President of the European Commission recently announced the provision of EUR 6 billion to Ukraine within the framework of the so-called drone alliance.
US President's Special Representative Keith Kellogg also admitted at the conference that Ukraine is ahead of the United States in the development of military drones, and an exchange of experience is necessary. "We are lagging behind, seriously lagging behind. Ukrainians are world leaders in drone technology," Kellogg said.
