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A new model of interceptor drone developed by former Ukrainian Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov has been tested successfully, Fedorov himself claimed on social media, posting video footage of the drone successfully intercepting two Russian Geran-5 drones.
"Our new interceptor is already taking down jet-powered Shaheds over Kyiv. Two Geran-5s down in its first week," Fedorov said.
The development time from conception to the first successful tests was just one month, Fedorov claimed, while the new interceptor was deployed by "Lasar's Group," a special forces unit within the 27th Separate Brigade of Ukraine's National Guard.
The successful test comes as Ukrainian cities are under repeated assault from Russia's new generation of jet-powered drones, especially the Geran-5, which blurs the line between a drone and a cruise missile, according to experts.
"The Geran-5 much more resembles a low-cost cruise missile than a long-range drone like the original Shahed derivatives," Fabian Hoffmann, a senior research fellow at the Norwegian Institute for Defence Studies, told the Kyiv Independent.
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The Geran-5 is particularly difficult to engage, flying significantly higher and faster than any of Russia's older drone models, with a maximum speed of 600 km/h (370 mph).
Multiple Ukrainian and Western defense companies are scrambling to build new models of interceptor drones to combat Russia's newer, faster jet-powered munitions.
"The Geran-5 is a significantly more difficult target to intercept than the Geran-4, or any of the previous generation of Russian drones," one senior engineer working for a defense contractor told the Kyiv Independent, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the work's sensitive nature.
Only 57% of jet-powered drones are currently shot down by Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky acknowledged in his evening address on Sept. 28, a figure he described as "much less than necessary."