Ukraine has already recorded the first cases of Russian jet-powered drones, including Geran-5s, being shot down with robotic turrets. The Air Force said the systems use machine vision and artificial intelligence, although their effective range is limited.
Air Force spokesperson Yurii Ihnat said this during a national telethon on October 5.
According to Ihnat, Russian forces are currently actively using both conventional Shahed drones and jet-powered UAVs. Over the past two nights, Russia launched around 50 jet-powered drones each night.
Ihnat said jet-powered drones have already been successfully shot down by robotic turrets, which are being installed, among other places, on bridges.
“There have already been shoot-downs of jet-powered UAVs, even Geran-5s, using those same turrets. The use of innovative technologies — artificial intelligence — has eliminated human error. Machine vision is used in the interception process. Artificial intelligence makes it possible to engage even jet-powered UAVs,” Ihnat said.
At the same time, he noted that the operating range of such turrets is limited because their main weapon is a machine gun.
Earlier, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that 12 special turrets had already been installed in Kyiv to counter Russian jet-powered drones. Another eight such systems are expected to be deployed in Kyiv region in the near future.
Zelensky also said Russian forces are changing their attack tactics and are trying to make broader use of jet-powered UAVs and ballistic missiles instead of conventional Shahed drones.
According to the figures he cited, Ukraine’s Defense Forces intercept around 85–92% of conventional Shahed drones, while the interception rate for jet-powered drones is estimated at 50–70%.
