> cost less than 10% of the Russian systems destroyed

One wonders how they have managed that, or how they know.

This article has a little more https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2025/09/11/uk-to-p...

> While Healey didn’t elaborate on the cost of the interceptor drone, the Center for Strategic and International Studies put the estimated cost of a Shahed at $35,000

The Shaheds are large petrol driven things with ~2000 km range and 20 kg warheads. The interceptors are probably battery powered with a fraction of the weight and range.

This kind of thing https://thedefender.media/en/2025/08/dyki-shershni-showcased...

>Sting interceptor hits 315 km/h, shoots down over 200 Shaheds and Gerberas

>Sting costs about $2,500

Not sure what design the UK will make.

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lolc 2 days ago | parent | next [-]

Wow and Stings are reusable! I thought they would be single use.

Being able to recharge them changes logistics a lot. You can have very mobile teams for defense in depth to decimate swarm attacks.

	▲	tim333 a day ago \| parent [-]
		I'm not sure the Stings are reusable but the Mangusts are.

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tguvot 2 days ago | parent | prev [-]

there are jet powered shaheds with speeds around 600km/h

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tim333 2 days ago | parent [-]

I think Ukraine is working on jet powered interceptors for those. (https://youtu.be/cmQpycW0Y2s?t=170)

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tguvot 2 days ago | parent [-]

interceptors equipped by shotguns.

i see shaheds in this case equipped with ultrasonic sensors to detect anything in range that will trigger "evasive maneuvers".

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tim333 2 days ago | parent [-]

The main virtue of the shaheds is they are fairly cheap and simple so the Russians can send hundreds. If you try making them capable of evasive maneuvers and the like you lose some of that.

The Mangust design is quite interesting

>steered by the pilot until, at around 200 meters (650 feet), its auto-guidance system takes over and autonomously completes the interception. https://www.kyivpost.com/post/57595

Still seems to be a prototype though - not sure they've hit any shaheds.

	▲	tguvot a day ago \| parent [-]
		they are 35k-50k a piece. they have advanced anti jamming capabilities (when ukrainians managed to bring one down in "one piece", they take out this part and reuse it in their drones). upgraded models have nvidia jetson that used for optical targeting. adding a few ultrasonic sensors, wires and writing extra 1000 lines of code not going to change BoM much

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sgt101 2 days ago | parent | prev [-]

Size and range.

Strike drones have to be able to carry a fairly large warhead (or are only good at hitting people and not things) and they have to fly quite a long way to get at things like reserve assets and logistics. So they are quite big, with quite a lot of fuel etc. Big things tend to cost more. In this case I can imagine that an interceptor that has a range of 10k and is 5% of the size of the strike drone would be able to knock it down and would be able to do so well away from its target.

Dunno how anyone can "know" unless they "know" and then they are not talking. But, it seems plausible that something with 10% of the range and 5% of the mass would cost 10% or less.

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HarHarVeryFunny 2 days ago | parent [-]

Right- I think Palantir make much smaller drones, and way faster and more maneuverable, that could take out these slow moving Russian ones very easily. The capability comes more from the software than the parts list - doesn't add to the per-unit cost.

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sgt101 2 days ago | parent [-]

I think Anduril not Palantir?

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HarHarVeryFunny 2 days ago | parent [-]

Yes - thanks.

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tim333 2 days ago | parent [-]

The Anduril kit is expensive. "Costing from $125,000 to $500,000 per unit" https://www.businessinsider.com/anduril-roadrunner-raytheon-...

	▲	HarHarVeryFunny 9 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Anduril also have things looking more like small (cheap) consumer quadraptor drones that are really fast, and can take things out by impact, although no doubt could add an explosive charge if needed.