Drone-on-drone War: The Rise of Drone Interceptors During the War in Ukraine
A guest article from Dr Oleksandra Molloy about the trajectory of drone versus drone warfare in Ukraine, and where this battle of technology, tactics and will goes from here.
In 2026, I have invited a group of experts who carry topics such as military strategy, drone warfare, the war in Ukraine, military transformation, and the security situation in the Pacific to write guest articles for publication here at Futura Doctrina. The first piece, written by Dr Frank Hoffman, covered the important topic of AI and critical thinking. It was published in February, and can be read here.
Today, I am excited to introduce my next expert who has written a brilliant article. Dr Oleksandra Molloy, an Australian-Ukrainian expert on uncrewed systems and drone operations, writes for Futura Doctrina. Oleksandra’s biography is at the bottom of the article. Her experience and publications in Ukraine, Europe, and Australia see her very well placed to write on current developments in drone-on-drone warfare, and what the future of uncrewed systems in Ukraine, and future warfare more generally, might be. Enjoy!
Closing Ukraine’s airspace has always been one of the key priorities since the beginning of russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022. Hundreds of drones and missiles are launched by russia at the Ukrainian cities, increasing the scale of their attacks. According to the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, russia launched over 14,670 guided aerial bombs, 738 missiles, and nearly 19,000 attack drones during the winter months of 2025–2026. Most of these drones were russian-produced, Iranian-designed Shahed systems extensively used against Ukrainian cities and energy facilities.
In the final week of last winter, Russia launched over 1,720 attack drones, dropped nearly 1,300 guided aerial bombs, and fired over 100 missiles at Ukraine, according to Zelenskyy’s statement on March 1, 2026. According to the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine, on the night of March 24, 2026 Russia launched nearly 1,000 drones, with 94.6% being intercepted by the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU). This was the largest attack since the beginning of the full-scale invasion. Overall interception rate of drones in March 2026 surpassed 90%, and according to the Ukraine’s War Plan, the aim is to identify 100% of aerial threats in real time and intercept at least 95% of drones and missiles. One in every three russian aerial targets destroyed over Ukraine is now brought down not by a missile or a gun but by interceptor drones costing less than a used car.
An ‘interceptor drone’ is a specially designed type of uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) designed to detect, pursue, and destroy enemy drones. Their main purpose is to provide protection in active combat. The models are equipped with sensors and autonomous navigation systems, allowing them to perform rapid manoeuvres in the air, automatically and instantly identify targets, in order to hover with precision and neutralise threats. These drones, as a weapons category, barely existed a few years ago, but have become the fastest-growing layer of Ukraine’s air defence.
How Ukraine built the interceptor-drone layer
The official public record shows that interceptor drones did not appear suddenly in Ukraine, in spring 2026. Although similar technology to drone interceptors, like Turkish-made ‘Fedai’ capable of intercepting other drones, was presented in 2021, Ukraine reported first project of a drone interceptor appeared in October 2022. The project, named “Fowler” at the time had limited capabilities, including intercepting target within the distance of 1500m, and the height of 1000m. This was more relevant for combating FPV drones, rather than more complex ISR drones; hence no widespread attention was given to the project.
In 2023, a Ukrainian drone instructor pitched another project about a drone interceptor, which sounded to troops like ‘science fiction’, something out of ‘Star Wars’ flying drones to scout enemy’s drones midair. The soldiers thought it would be impossible to fly a small drone into a fast-moving target. This is similar to a story of how a suggestion about using drones emerged, being compared to ‘toys’ by senior military officials. What seems to be laughable has since become a low-cost and critical pillar of Ukraine’s defence.
