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Ukraine has the capacity to supply 1,000 interceptor drones a day to Gulf states under fire from Iran, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said. The major development would allow countries to fend off Iran’s daily Shahed-136 attacks, boosting stockpiles with cheaper drones instead of using high-end interceptor missiles.
Mr Zelenskyy also disclosed that there were 201 Ukrainian anti-drone military experts in the Middle East to help defend the region against the Shaheds and another 34 are “ready to deploy”.
“These are military experts, experts who know how to help, how to defend against Shahed drones,” he said in an address to the British parliament on Tuesday.
“Our teams are already in the Emirates, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and on the way to Kuwait.”
Ukraine is capable of producing about 2,000 interceptor drones per day and can supply half that number to its allies to help bolster their defences, he said.
The country has vast experience in shooting down the Iran-designed Shaheds having spent the last three years defending its capital Kyiv from deadly Russian attacks.
One of its leading weapons is the Sting interceptor, at $2,100, which is among several that have been successfully developed and have destroyed more than 3,000 Russian Geran drones in the last year.
By comparison, the Patriot PAC-3 interceptor is about $3.5 million.
Built with a 3D-printed, bullet-shaped quadcopter projectile, the Sting achieves speeds of 340kph with the ability to cruise at 3,000 metres. It uses thermal imaging to pick up Shahed drones, diving down on them with its 1.8kg warhead at ranges up to 25km.
It is part of Ukraine’s range of drone interceptors that have shot down 70 per cent of the Shahed-type weapons fired at its cities.
Earlier, Mr Zelenskyy met with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Nato secretary general Mark Rutte, thanking them for their support in a “difficult winter” for his country, during which Russia had attacked critical energy infrastructure amid freezing conditions.
“I think it’s really important that we are clear that the focus must remain on Ukraine,” Mr Starmer said after the Downing Street event.
“There’s obviously a conflict in Iran going on, in the Middle East, but we can’t lose focus on what’s going on in Ukraine and the need for our support.”
Mr Zelenskyy also met King Charles III at Buckingham Palace. The two men met for 25 minutes over tea in the king's private study.
Current conflicts will now see a “boom in short-range air defence against drones”, said Robert Tollast, of the Rusi think tank. “We're about to enter a period of massive investment globally, although it has taken a tremendously long time for Europe to wake up to this threat.”
He added that a “counter drone ground architecture” similar to Ukraine’s was required, in which sensors, tactical radars and mobile gun-lorry teams are co-ordinated in defence. “There's a lot of work to be done,” he added.
