Ukraine and the West are working on light-motor aircraft to counter Shaheds – source in the General Staff

To counter the Shahed drones, the Armed Forces of Ukraine, together with Western partners, are implementing new projects and developments for light aircraft, a source in the General Staff told LIGA.net.

According to him, this development promises to be promising and new: "This is not a Yak-52." Ukrainian military have previously used such Soviet light aircraft to shoot down Russian reconnaissance drones in the rear.

Meanwhile, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Oleksandr Syrskyi, announced that the use of light aviation is one of the ways to counter the Shahed drones, in the development of which the military is investing.

"This direction will develop. We are receiving modern light aviation aircraft, which have modern weapons and navigation systems, which will increase the effectiveness of countering Russian strike drones," the military commander noted.

He added that the Army Aviation, which has helicopters in its arsenal, also participates daily in repelling drone attacks.

"We are scaling up [this direction]. We have organized cooperation with partners, primarily Canadian ones, who give us the opportunity to obtain modern surveillance and targeting systems, which increases the combat capabilities of our helicopters," the commander-in-chief added.

Kyryl Lyukov, head of the unmanned aerial vehicle department of the Serhiy Prytula Charitable Foundation, told LIGA.net that aircraft, light aviation, and helicopters demonstrate good results in shooting down Shahed drones when repelling attacks.

However, they also have their own specific applications, such as weather conditions, the expert added.

• Another approach to countering the Shahed drones is the use of new interceptor drones. These were already used during the repelling of one of the largest Russian attacks on the night of July 4th – president Zelenskyy reported dozens of enemy drones destroyed.
• Such interceptors are significantly cheaper than Shaheds. At the same time, it is too early to talk about their systematic use, as scaling up is needed first, the Unmanned Systems Forces noted.