Ukraine has built a revolutionary drone to catch Russia's most modern drones. The Ukrainian arsenal gained its first jet-powered interceptor drone, the Alexa Spatium, developed to destroy small aerial, ground, and surface targets in combat, Ukraine's Defense Ministry announced.
The interceptor is Ukraine's answer to a threat that has outrun its defenses and killed civilians. Russia added jet engines to its Geran drones to make them fly faster than Ukraine's interceptors could intercept. Such jet-powered drones, Geran-4, struck a Kryvyi Rih shopping center on 21 August, killing at least 15 people and injuring 130.
The Alexa Spatium is built to catch exactly those jet-powered drones, closing an arms-race loop in which Russia's speed had left Ukraine's slower interceptors behind.
It is built to kill the jet Gerans
The interceptor targets Russia's fastest drones first. It is primarily oriented toward destroying Russian kamikaze drones, including the Geran-3, Geran-4, and Geran-5, as well as the Shahed-131, and can also strike reconnaissance drones, helicopters, and other targets, according to the Defense Ministry.
A powerful turbojet gives the Alexa Spatium the speed to chase down jet-powered targets, with a high flight ceiling, a significant combat radius, and a range spanning low to medium altitudes.
It is fast, reusable, and pickup-portable
The drone is built for flexible, repeated use. It measures about 1.5 by 1.7 meters, launches from a mobile catapult in minutes, and is made of a light, strong composite that lets it make sharp maneuvers without losing control. A drone that does not complete its mission can return to the launch site and be reused.
It carries a choice of warheads and seekers. The Alexa Spatium can be fitted with fragmentation, shaped-charge, or thermobaric warheads, guided by preset coordinates or direct control, and uses television and infrared search-and-aiming systems.
Since the beginning of 2026, Ukraine’s Defense Ministry has codified and approved 413 unmanned aerial systems for use by the country’s Defense Forces. Almost all of them are Ukrainian-made.
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