Ukraine’s Ministry of Defence has codified the Blade interceptor drone developed by the Ukrainian defence technology company Phantom Defense. The company reported this in a press release.
Blade is designed to intercept fixed-wing drones. According to the developers, the interceptor reaches a top speed of up to 310 km/h, can carry up to 0.5 kg of payload and operate at ranges of up to 30 km. A vertical take-off and landing system allows Blade to be launched from unprepared sites — without reliance on runways, the company says. The drone is equipped with daytime and thermal imaging cameras, enabling round-the-clock operation.
Blade has a ground control station that includes telemetry, video and flight control. The company added that operators are provided with an automated, case-type workstation with up to four hours of uninterrupted operation.
“Blade is part of Phantom Defense’s integrated ecosystem for countering unmanned threats, which brings together detection systems, electronic warfare capabilities, kinetic interceptors and a situational awareness and battle management platform. This approach makes it possible to combine different counter-UAV tools into a single system — from detecting and tracking a target to neutralising it,” Phantom Defense said.
As of July, since the start of 2026 the Ministry of Defence has codified and approved 413 unmanned aerial systems for use by Ukraine’s Defence Forces. Almost all of the equipment is Ukrainian-made. The defence ministry said that it has now codified more than 30% more unmanned aerial systems than in the same period of 2025, and more than 73% more than in the same period of 2024.
The list of systems codified since the start of 2026 includes:
- aerial reconnaissance drones of aerostat, fixed-wing and multicopter types;
- strike drones of fixed-wing and multicopter types;
- FPV drones;
- unmanned bomber systems;
- interceptor drones;
- relay drones;
- target drones;
- fibre-optic unmanned aerial systems;
- front-strike;
- deep-strike.