Ukraine is quietly building a new class of weapons — drone-powered cruise missiles that are small, cheap, and deadly. Ukrainian arms expert Bohdan Dolintse told ArmyInform that these new systems blend drone and missile technologies into a hybrid “drone-missile” category.
These weapons use mini jet engines, aviation-model components, and advanced guidance systems, yet weigh a fraction of traditional cruise missiles and cost exponentially less.
The development comes in the wake of Operation Web, widely seen as a watershed in modern warfare, where Ukraine used synchronized drone swarms to destroy high-value Russian assets, reshaping global perceptions of non-nuclear deterrence.
On 1 June, Ukraine’s Security Service carried out a special operation that struck 41 aircraft, part of Russia’s nuclear triad. The mission has become a symbol of a new era of asymmetric warfare, where innovative drone systems and high-tech solutions allow a non-nuclear nation to effectively challenge a nuclear power state.
Now, Kyiv is scaling up. If serial production is launched, Dolintse says, Ukraine could manufacture hundreds of these precision-guided munitions monthly.
Though still in development or limited deployment, their battlefield potential is vast — from striking air defense and radar sites to disabling critical logistics nodes deep behind enemy lines.
“This is a scalpel — a precise, mobile solution to hit vulnerable yet decisive targets,” Dolintse emphasizes.
Highly modular, these missiles can be launched from aircraft, drones, or ground platforms. Instead of a single $10 million missile, Ukraine envisions waves of compact, lethal munitions that can shift the balance of power in the skies — and the future of warfare itself.
