March 26, 2026:
German firm Tytan is one of several companies in Europe producing drones. Most of these are sold to the general public and some are sent to Ukraine for use in combat. While Ukraine manufactures most of the drones it uses, it will purchase effective ones from foreign manufacturers.
Tytan’s first drone is an interceptor used for air defense against attack drones. Production is already underway and is expected to reach 3,000 drones a month by the end of 2026. Each TYTAN drone weighs five kg, with a one kg warhead. Max speed is 250 kilometers an hour and an interception range of 15 kilometers.
Two years ago, Ukraine developed a drone that could intercept and destroy other drones. This was achieved using FPV/First Person Viewing operated drones to detect the enemy drone and destroy it by colliding with it. This was made possible by using drones controlled by FPV operators. While the first FPV drones were quadcopters, the interceptor drones are faster fixed wing models that look like remotely controlled model aircraft. The soldier operating the FPV was a kilometer or more away and used FPV goggles to see what the day/night video camera on the UAV could see. Each of these UAVs carried half a kilogram of explosives, so it could instantly turn the UAV into a flying bomb that could fly into a target and detonate. This is an awesome and debilitating weapon when used in large numbers over the combat zone.
The interceptor drones were used to take down Russian reconnaissance and surveillance drones that located targets for Russian artillery and for air strikes by manned aircraft or explosives equipped FPV drones that can go after a moving target. Unlike manned aircraft, drones are smaller and slower with top speeds of 100 to 150 kilometers an hour and only operate at low altitudes under 1,600 meters. Note that these drones were still unable to catch helicopters, which they could damage. Fixed wing aircraft, like jet fighters, are another matter as they rarely fly low enough for the drones to reach, much less hit such a fast moving aircraft. The Ukrainians were able to incorporate the new killer drone capability into their air defense systems, which meant the air defense radars and fire control systems recognized drones large enough and metallic drones to show up on radar. Modern aircraft tracking radars were not designed to detect, much less track, small slow and low flying drones.
The Russian solution to this Ukrainian interference was to send more surveillance drones accompanied by attack drones as a way to overwhelm the Ukrainian air defense system. Sometimes this worked, for a while, but the Ukrainians were generally faster to improvise and modify systems that didn’t work until they did. Russian forces rely more on massive use of whatever they have. This sometimes works because, as the Russians like to point out, quantity has a quality all its own. That worked until it didn’t as the Ukrainians found ways to quickly overwhelm Russian defensive measures and destroy more of their artillery target spotting and reconnaissance drones in several areas. If the Ukrainians could continue to manufacture lots of these interceptor drones that simply collide with their targets, the Russians are in big trouble because Ukrainian artillery can operate more freely and effectively and suffer lower losses.