UKRAINE, Apr. 14 — Ukrainian company WinFly said they downed the Russian Shahed-136 drone with an FPV interceptor drone called WinFly Nexis.

On Mar. 30, Myhailo Fedorov, the Minister of Defence of Ukraine, said that private air defence companies are being integrated into the unified system of the Ukrainian Air Forces and can participate in the interception of Russian drones. He also announced that the first private air defense unit started working in the Kharkiv oblast.

WinFly is a Ukrainian developer and supplier of attack and interceptor drones, optical fiber systems, retranslators, and software for them. Over the past two years, the company says they have been leaders in intercepting Russian Lancet and Molniya drones.

“The move to combat high-speed targets was only a matter of time,” said WinFly.

The company said Nexis intercepted the Shahed drone at speeds exceeding 250 km/h (155 mph) with the engine operating at 84% thrust.

According to Winfly, the Nexis FPV’s top speed is 270 km/h (168 mph), which allows it to catch up to the Shahed. Its maximum operating altitude is 5,000 meters (16,404 feet), and its range is up to 30 kilometers (18.6 miles). The drone can be in the air for up to 25 minutes.

“The current version is controlled manually by pilots, but we have been working on autonomous capabilities for our interceptor for some time now,” said the unnamed founder of the company.

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