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I wonder why this didn't happen sooner! I've been expecting it for four years, it seems. It's been ridiculously inefficient to have to destroy a drone just to take out another.
Next up, super-maneuverable drones semi-autonomously zig-zagging to close in, then lunging and ramming other drones' propellors with a tiny shield to break them, without ammo limitations. But that's probably gonna becomes feasible only after this war ends.
I started seeing shotgun drones in Jan 2025.
https://sopuli.xyz/post/20750177
Net launchers are becoming more common too.
Some drone interceptors just have a stick. https://sopuli.xyz/post/41069897
I'm not a Ukrainian drone designer, but at a guess: weight and cost.
Recoilless shotguns arent just pulling the stock off your grandpa's shottie. They have a specific gas chamber design that is specific (ie not cheap to buy). They're also not light so the drone has to be able to lift it.
Heavier drones like that werent widely available initially - UA were just getting in as many DJI drones from China as they could lay their hands on. Now they are making their own they can adapt the design to different uses.
Also using a low cost quad drone to kamikaze another drone was probably cheaper than specialist ones to shoot them down.
I'd expect also because having your drone tech in thousands of pieces when its finished is probably a desirable thing. Reuseable may be environmentally friendly, but it lets the enemy follow you home and halves your range too.
Good point.
(I was going to make a hammer reference but I figure that's probably worn thin.)
The real advantage to something like this is the drone you flew for 10 minutes to reach the enemy can take out 1-2 drones with the shotgun, then destroy itself taking down a third, while a drone that only takes down one enemy drone means 10 more minutes getting the next to that area.
I wonder why this didn't happen sooner!
The challenge of recoil I gather
I saw a video a while ago of a stabilized drone hunting other stabilized drones. This looks like fpv vs fpv which is a big step up in terms of skill and utility.
I've been posting this for years. At close to medium range, a flying sawed off shotgun with buckshot is pretty devastating.
I think the ideal scenario is when you do not destroy the other drone, but take full control of it. Or just take it down (or with you, depending on the location), and at the very least repurpose it for parts for your own drones.
Otherwise very much agree.
That depends on what kind of drone it is.
If it's a cheap kamikaze drone laden with explosives that might detonate before you can disarm it, then no.
If it's an expensive high quality DJI with high resolution cameras and thermal vision, then maybe.
Bringing in a live drone that can be tracked or even just viewed through the camera might reveal your location to the enemy, and attract enemy suicide drones.
Great observation, I didnβt think of it!
I didn't event think of that... True, that is even better.