Low-cost technology

How the drone challenge is changing the face of war in Ukraine

While Russia intensifies its attacks with Shahed drones, Kiev responds with light and cheap technology. War moves to the skies and becomes a race for innovation

2 June 2025

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Un fermo immagine tratto da un video mostra attacchi di droni nella regione di Murmansk, nell'Artico, a circa 3.500 chilometri dall'Ucraina, e addirittura nella Siberia nord-orientale, su una base militare nella regione di Irkutsk, a ben 6.000 km di distanza. X Illia Ponomarenko. NPK

3' min read

Key points

Drone shooting down the drone.
Low-cost technology, billion-dollar damages
The Achilles heel
FPV, the new frontier
The Russian counteroffensive
A new way of warfare

3' min read

At the heart of thewar between Russia and Ukraine a silent but decisive battle is being fought: that in the skies, between increasingly sophisticated swarms of drones and ever-evolving defensive strategies.

On Sunday 1 June came the clearest proof of this: while Kiev struck deep into Russian territory, damaging almost a third of Moscow's strategic bomber fleet, Moscow responded with one of the most intense air strikes on the Ukrainian capital in recent months.

But there is more behind the escalation: the ingenuity of Ukrainian and Russian engineers is fuelling a new arms race in the field of drones. And the real news is that drones are now starting to fight each other.

Ucraina, attacco con droni: distrutti 40 aerei russi

The drone that shoots down the drone

Ukraine, with the support of its Ministry of Strategic Industries, is accelerating the production of interceptor drones, designed to destroy other drones in flight. The main target are the infamous Shahed, Iranian-made attack drones, now mass-produced by Russia: they are triangular in shape, fly at long range and are relatively cheap (around $35,000 each).

To counter them, Kyiv relies on agile and low-cost solutions: three domestic companies produce interceptors between 300 and 5,000 dollars, some of which detonate close to the target, others hit it directly. Origin Robotics, a Latvian company, will shortly send to Ukraine drones designed to detonate a warhead in the vicinity of enemy aircraft.

"Once in range, it explodes and hits him with shrapnel," explained CEO Agris Kipurs at an industry fair in Riga.

Low-cost technology, damage in the billions

The results are tangible. The coordinated Ukrainian attacks hit four Russian airbases, heavily damaging the Kremlin's strategic capabilities. According to sources within the Kiev services, the damage would amount to some USD 2 billion.

This is a reversal of the war paradigm: low-cost systems are able to neutralise much more expensive technologies, as has already happened in Yemen, where Houthi rebels shot down $30 million US spy drones with ground-based missiles.

The Achilles Heel

Despite progress, interceptor drones have limitations. They can do nothing against the more powerful and faster Russian missiles. That is whyUkraine continues to use its F-16s and US-supplied Patriot systems, with costs ranging from $3 million to $6 million per missile.

President Volodymyr Zelensky is meanwhile pushing for USD 30 billion by the end of the year to boost domestic arms production. At the same time, he asked the military leadership for a plan to strengthen air countermeasures. "We have jets to shoot down drones, but something more is needed, he said. "We are also working on drone-counter-drone solutions."

FPV, the new frontier

One of the most promising answers comes from FPV (first person view) drones, already successfully deployed to attack Russian bombers.They can fly at up to 160 km/h, carrying small explosives and changing the face of the battlefield: soldiers avoid regrouping, vehicles are moved further away from the front.

Skyfall, a leading Ukrainian manufacturer, has adapted its Shrike model to shoot down other UAVs. Cost? Between $300 and $500. One of the videos published by the Ukrainian 63rd brigade shows these drones hitting a Supercam and a Merlin, among the most advanced Russian reconnaissance drones.

The Russian counteroffensive

Moscow, however, is not standing idly by. Its new generations of fixed-wing drones are equipped with rear cameras and automatic evasion capabilities if they detect an incoming attack. An evolution that makes it even more complicated to target a drone with another drone.

"It is expensive, difficult and inefficient," admits Carl Larson, director of Defense Tech for Ukraine, an international organisation that supports the country's forces. But he is not giving up: Kiev is developing drones equipped with recoilless rifles, to hit the toughest targets in the air.

A new way of war

According to Bloomberg Intelligence, drone technology may not yet replace traditional defence systems, but it is profoundly changing how we fight. Drones reduce costs, complicate enemy strategies, and challenge the industrial logic of large armies. Above all, they make warfare less predictable.

Thus, while peace is being discussed in Istanbul, small aircraft laden with explosives, ingenuity and strategy continue to fly in the skies above Ukraine and Russia. Because the frontline today is increasingly being played out a few hundred metres above the ground. And a few hundred dollars.