Russia has introduced the Vogan-9SP, a new drone designed to combat Ukrainian UAVs that have been causing significant losses. Revealed at a conference in St. Petersburg, this drone interceptor uses radar to detect its target, then deploys a laser to lock on before launching from a ground launcher. Capable of speeds up to 124 mph, it approaches its target and autonomously engages, controlled by an operator who can trigger its explosive warhead. As tensions escalate in Ukraine, this development marks Russia’s latest effort to counter the threat of enemy drones, revealing new strategies in modern warfare.
Russia has unveiled what it claims to be a new counter-drone interceptor, a single-use drone with an explosive warhead built specifically to knock down the types of Ukrainian uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs) that have been wreaking havoc on Russian troops and equipment on the battlefield. The reported breakthrough is consistent with similar capabilities elsewhere in the world, where, in some cases, a drone is increasingly regarded as the best protection against another drone.
As we have long argued, sometimes the best method to bring down a drone is to use another drone.
The Vogan-9SP counter-drone interceptor was built by Russia’s Red Line firm, which appears to be a newcomer to the area. According to Russia’s state-owned TASS news agency, the company unveiled the system at a drone detection and counter-measures conference in St. Petersburg yesterday.
According to a business spokesperson, the engagement procedure begins when radar detects a hostile drone, which is then targeted with a laser designator. The pusher-propeller-driven Vogan-9SP takes off from a 45-degree-angled ground launcher in the operator’s direction. The quadcopter can reach speeds of up to 124 mph and appears to continue the engagement semi-autonomously once it has approached the target.
The specific final guidance technique is unknown, however, this implies that the target drone does not need to be ‘lased’ by the laser designator at the terminal phase. Optically locking onto the target on its own is fully within the capabilities of today’s drones, even at lower levels. Using the laser designator to bring it to the point where it can get a lock is an intriguing hybrid concept that we haven’t seen before in the counter-drone effector arena, despite using laser designation of drones to an effector’s detonation is now a well-known capability.
Nonetheless, the Vogan-9SP is said to keep a ‘ man in the loop,’ with a video camera broadcasting images of the encounter to the operator on the ground. The same operator is claimed to have triggered the explosive warhead in the drone’s nose. While this appears to contradict the description of an autonomous engagement’s end phase, two guidance alternatives may exist: manual and semi-autonomous.
For the time being, we don’t know whether the Vogan-9SP is a genuine piece of hardware, albeit one in development, or vaporware, as has previously occurred in Russia. However, the system’s core premise is becoming increasingly recognizable, and the Russian military requires such a counter-drone technology. One could even argue that establishing such a system would be a top priority.
“Its objective is to precisely intercept ‘kamikaze’ drones that fly [in Ukraine] with hostile intentions,” the Red Line spokesman told TASS.
Ukrainian FPV drones just destroyed a convoy of Russian vehicles in the Donetsk region.
The same spokesman stated that the counter-drone interceptor is presently being tested and that the company is working on an upgraded version. This will have a quadcopter configuration and is expected to achieve speeds of more than 150 mph.
The proliferation of low-cost drones used for monitoring, targeting, and attacks in theaters throughout the world is currently pushing the development of this new type of counter-drone interceptor. These are merely one of an expanding arsenal aimed at combating the threat posed by lower-end aerial drones, but until today, such technologies appeared to be overlooked in Russia.
On several occasions, we have seen video footage of small drones being employed as kamikaze interceptors, slamming into opposing drones to knock them down. Indeed, this has become so widespread that it has been institutionalized as part of both sides’ drone war theories.
Both sides in the conflict have used existing air defense systems of various types against smaller drones, particularly shoulder-launched and other short-range air defense systems (SHORADS). However, systems like this are required for higher-end threats, such as crewed aircraft, cruise missiles, and larger drones, yet the missiles they fire are extremely expensive and in short supply. They are also currently unable to protect smaller drones wherever it is required.
According to multiple reports, Russia has had significant success utilizing electronic warfare systems against Ukrainian drones, particularly the more numerous and less resilient first-person view (FPV) models. These jammers can be placed on vehicles or used as individual rifle-style anti-drone guns.
Even with electronic warfare systems, kinetic counter-drone techniques remain critical, particularly for dealing with Ukrainian drones that have not been knocked down by jamming or other means and constitute an immediate threat to soldiers and equipment.
Filling the gaps has thus been left to machine guns and anti-aircraft artillery systems, as well as infantry equipped with small arms, or, in more dire situations, sticks and stones.
While it is unknown how the Vogan-9SP will be deployed, once in production, it appears to add a valuable layer to Russia’s anti-drone ‘umbrella’ to stay up with the Ukrainian drone threat. The capacity to loiter, in particular, would make the new system extremely useful, allowing it to keep coverage over a specific area of vulnerability, or even troops or vehicles on the move for an extended length of time, engaging threats as they appeared.
Russia’s new counter-drone interceptor matches developments in Ukraine and elsewhere.
In April of this year, Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine’s minister of digital transformation, unveiled a project to develop a counter-drone interceptor.
On his Telegram channel, Fedorov requested aid from engineers in developing such drones as a less expensive alternative to using surface-to-air missiles to target Russian drones. According to Fedorov, the new drone must be capable of flying at speeds of up to 100 mph and reaching altitudes of up to 5,000 ft.
As of June, Ukrainian drones created under this program had begun downing Russian reconnaissance UAVs, as evidenced by a video provided by Ukraine’s Border Guards showing the interception of a Russian Zala drone by an FPV-type interceptor drone.
Videos of other drone-versus-drone engagements including Ukrainian types acting as interceptors have emerged since then, and this appears to be one area of the battle in which Russia is attempting to improve its capabilities, as evidenced by the arrival of the Vogan-9SP.
Aside from the conflict in Ukraine, there has been a flurry of interest in counter-drone interceptors in the United States for years, driven by lessons learned from this conflict, as well as the Middle East and the projected threats that would likely be encountered in a future conflict with China in the Pacific.
The United States Army intends to considerably increase its inventory of Coyote counter-drone interceptors in the coming years, purchasing thousands more of the drones, as well as related launchers and radars. Unlike the Vogan-9SP, Raytheon’s Coyote counter-drone loitering interceptor is available in both jet-powered and propeller-driven configurations, with the choice of an explosive warhead or an undefined “non-kinetic” payload.
The U.S. Army deploys Coyotes as two-round launchers on 4×4 mine-resistant vehicles equipped with radar, electro-optical sensors, and a 30mm cannon. Palletized systems with four-round launchers are deployed to defend static targets. Russia may take a similar technique with the Vogan-9SP, but because the launcher has yet to be launched, we don’t know how suited it will be for different platforms or what capacity it has.
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A single Coyote interceptor is also worth considering, with a stated cost of roughly $100,000, which is reasonably affordable in comparison to standard surface-to-air missiles. Ukraine has underlined the same aspect in its drive to create counter-drone interceptors, and Russia’s Vogan-9SP will be guided, at least in part, by the same thinking.
Despite its relative cost-effectiveness, an interceptor like the Coyote is still significantly more expensive than several sorts of lower-tier drones, particularly those that are predicted to come in greater numbers. With this in mind, Anduril, a US defense contractor, designed the Interceptor quadcopter for counter-drone missions. The jet-powered Roadrunner-M, also from Anduril, is more sophisticated — and more expensive — but has the advantage of being easily reusable if it does not pursue a target in a single sortie. The reusability of Vogan-9SP is unclear at this time.
The Coyote, Interceptor, and Roadrunner are just a few of the counter-drone capabilities that various parts of the US military have been working on developing and deploying in recent years. The usage of drones as loitering interceptors is expected to skyrocket in the next years, with significant potential applications in the marine space.
It remains to be seen whether Russia can advance the development of the Vogan-9SP and deploy this potentially extremely effective weapon on the battlefield in Ukraine. Sanctions have hampered Russia’s defense industry’s ability to create high-tech weapons, which has been repeatedly questioned since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Even if it remains aspirational, the Vogan-9SP demonstrates the very real threat that drones, particularly low-end designs and weaponized commercial varieties, represent on and off traditional battlefields – not just in Ukraine. With these risks only projected to expand in the future years, counter-drone interceptors in this area are quickly becoming a popular choice.
Recently, GreatGameIndia reported that amid escalating tensions, Russia launched devastating airstrikes targeting Ukrainian airfields designated to host NATO’s F-16 jets. This strategic move underscores heightened geopolitical stakes and raises international concerns over the intensifying conflict.
