Ukrainian Video Shows Interceptor Striking Shahed Drone as U.S. Army Seeks Own Low-Cost Design

A Ukrainian drone unit posted a video last month showing an interceptor closing on a Shahed drone with a flash at contact, Defense News reported. The night-vision footage came from Ukraine’s 427th Separate Unmanned Systems Regiment, known as Rarog, via its Telegram channel.

Foreign Policy Research Institute senior fellow Rob Lee shared the clip and stated it is the first public video of Perennial Autonomy’s Merops targeting Shahed or Geran drones.

The unit flies both Ukrainian-built and foreign interceptors but did not identify the system used. The Army opened a Low-Cost Interceptor program on June 23 at an industry day in Arlington, Virginia. The effort seeks complete systems under $1 million with government-owned designs that can be produced by any manufacturer, and a first live-fire demonstration is scheduled for the fall.

Army Secretary Dan Driscoll said in May that the program would allow the service to break the interceptor into pieces, buy or lease the design, and use contract manufacturers. The Army does not own the Merops design. Perennial Autonomy, launched by Eric Schmidt in 2023, signed a three-year, $500 million contract with the Pentagon in May.

The Army bought 13,000 Merops in eight days after the Iran war began in late February at roughly $15,000 each. Driscoll told Congress in April that the interceptors protected U.S. troops and defended the cost against Shaheds priced at $30,000 to $50,000.

The Merops is a roughly three-foot fixed-wing drone that reaches 174 mph and homes in using thermal radar or radio-frequency sensors. The system has downed more than 4,000 Russian drones in Ukraine and accounted for 40 percent of Shahed destructions there, according to Brig. Gen.