UKR: What we know about Ukraine’s deep-strike tech

BLUF: Ukraine is massively deploying cheaper deep-strike drones that autonomously fly hundreds and even thousands of kilometers, exhausting Russia’s air defense systems to hit targets. Ukraine is also ramping up production of long-range missiles, including the FP-5, though the process remains complex, costly, and slower than drone development.

Shares of Ukrainian defense tech company Swarmer surged 520% in its IPO debut.

The third season of Defence Builder will be focused on system-level solutions and NATO standards in strike systems, interceptors, remote control and robotics, reconnaissance, communications and control.

Iran is getting intelligence assistance from Russia. Although the country has its own capable intelligence with human and cyber tools, Russia’s help with satellite intel helps with more precise targeting. 

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To put a dent in Russia’s economic potential and its financial ability to wage the war, Ukraine needed weapons that could strike targets thousands of kilometers away.

So it developed them: Ukraine is now regularly striking Russian military and energy facilities thanks to the development of deepstrike drones, a cheap but effective tool.

“The emergence and development of this particular type of weapon in Ukraine was primarily linked to, and remains linked to, the lack of long-range weapons in the form of cruise missiles,” aviation expert Bogdan Dolintse told The Arsenal.

The first deep-strike attacks were recorded in late 2022, when Ukraine struck the Russian airfields at Engels and Diagilevo, located 500–700 km from the Ukrainian border. 

In 2023, drones began striking Russian targets deep behind enemy lines on a monthly basis, and from 2024–2025, they did so almost daily, with the number of launches climbing each month. 

By 2025, Ukraine carried out six times as many deep strike drones as in 2024. Ukrainian long-range strike drones have a range of up to 2,000 km and a payload of approximately 50-60 kg. 

Ukraine started using terrain-following flight systems, when the drone flies low, skirting the contours of the terrain, at an altitude of several hundred meters. This is so that radars and electronic surveillance systems don't notice it. 

Still, only about one-third of drones end up making it through the buffer zone about 50 km from the border, where there is the greatest chance of them being shot down, Dolintse estimated. Once a drone passes through this buffer, it can mostly move unhindered to its target, with the biggest danger being interception near the destination.

Another obstacle is the lack of real-time management. Ukrainian deep-strike drones usually fly autonomously based on pre-programmed GPS data and have no contact with the pilot after launch. While operators used to be able to receive data on the drone’s status and location via mobile communication, Russia has since adapted and began using electronic warfare systems to prevent this.

The flight time of a single Ukrainian drone also complicates matters. To cover more than 1,000 kilometers, a drone has to fly for about 10 hours at an average speed of 120-200 km/h. That gives Russia plenty of time to shoot down the drone, calculate its final target, and move critical equipment or weapons from the location of the intended strike. 

Ukraine employs various tactics to overwhelm air defense systems, just as Russia does. For example, Ukraine can launch combined attacks to wear down Russia’s air defenses with some weapons while striking with others. 

“You can use different types of drones with different characteristics—for example, in terms of flight speed—and the enemy will see them differently, identify them differently, and react to them differently,” Maryna Tsirkun, the head of ISTAR direction of the NGO Aerorozvidka, told The Arsenal.

While Ukraine has developed an air defense system and can shoot down Russian drones cost-effectively using its own interceptors, Russia still relies on more expensive systems. 

With that in mind, even if a Ukrainian drone is shot down, it’s advantageous for the Ukrainian side, as it depletes enemy resources.

A system from the company Trypillian, for instance, delivers a warhead to its target using an aerostat. Aerostats are less accurate, so the targeting in a gliding warhead corrects the trajectory of the flight. The aerostat’s flight altitude is 20 km. To shoot it down at that altitude would require resources worth about $1 million, while the cost of an aerostat is tens of thousands of dollars, according to Oleksii Tretiak, CTO of Trypillian. 

“There is a significant economic imbalance here, and overloading the air defense system is one of the objectives; it’s perfectly normal for them to be shot down—it’s even encouraged,” Tretiak said.

One of the most common drones used for Ukrainian deep strikes is the FP-1 from Fire Point. It has a range of 1,600 km and a payload capacity of 60–120 kg. Also widely used is the UJ-26 Bober (Beaver), which was among the first to be deployed for strikes on Russian territory; the Liutyi drone from the Ukrainian aviation giant Antonov is also used for this purpose.

Ukraine is also working on developing its own cruise and ballistic missiles to make up for the shortage of Western weapons. 

The most well-known Ukrainian missiles include the FP-5, also known as the Flamingo, which is the largest in Ukraine with a warhead weighing 1,150 kg. 

There’s also the Neptune, an anti-ship missile that was later modified for use against ground targets. It began development back in 2014 following Russia’s invasion of eastern Ukraine, and famously went on to sink Russia’s flagship Moskva cruiser in April 2022.

Fire Point also recently announced the development of new ballistic missiles, the FP-7 and FP-9, which the company has billed as analogs of American ATACMS but are two times cheaper. 

The FP-7 can hit targets at a distance of 200 km with a warhead weighing 150 kg, according to Fire Point. The speed is 1,500 m/s, making the flight duration just over four minutes. The FP-9 will have a longer range, more than 850 km, a warhead weight of 800 kg, and a speed of about 2,200 m/s. The FP-7 missile has already been tested, while the FP-9 is still undergoing preparations for tests.  

The development and use of Ukrainian missiles in deep strikes is highly classified, so it’s too soon to be able to assess whether or not they’re successful. 

“It is somewhat premature to discuss effectiveness at this point. A realistic assessment of combat use will be possible after at least a hundred such missiles have been deployed, when it will become clear what proportion of them actually reached their targets and how effectively those targets were hit,” Dolintse said.

To produce its own ballistic missiles, Ukraine needs special components that can operate in extreme conditions, most of which are dual-use components. Permits are required to obtain them, but the process for that is lengthy and complicated. 

“The topic of deep strikes is a very new one, and we are one of the leaders in this field—specifically, the use of drones. While it’s easier to develop or deploy a drone right now, doing the same with a missile is simply a very long and very expensive process,” Tsirkun said.

Long-range unmanned aerial vehicles, ballistic missiles, and cruise missiles are a top priority  for defense sector funding. Ukraine's production capabilities in this segment amount to about $25 billion today. And the strikes have already left a mark: they shut down 20 percent of Russia's oil refining capacity in 2025.

Many of the tactics honed on the battlefield in Ukraine are now mirrored in Iran, in one way or another.

Iran, for instance, has begun using Russian tactics in its retaliatory attacks, unleashing the same Shahed drones Moscow has used against Ukraine for years. Iran is also now launching massive combined attacks in which drones play a major role, in which ballistic and cruise missiles are also deployed. 

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Shares of Swarmer rocketed 520% in the company’s initial public offering (IPO) yesterday. This made the company’s debut the best-performing U.S. stock of the year so far. Swarmer is a Ukrainian defense company that develops autonomous AI software to control swarms of drones.

“It is very normal in the first days and week or so of a company going public to have a lot of volatility. It goes way up, it goes way down, and that's all over the place. I will say yesterday's debut for Swarmer was very unique,”  Deborah Fairlamb, founding partner at Green Flag Ventures, told The Arsenal.

The defense sector is currently particularly attractive to investors, as the war in Iran has shown that modern warfare requires autonomous, scalable, and cost-effective solutions.
“There was a very big general awareness about the strength and quality of Ukrainian defense tech. This [Swarmer] is the first Ukrainian defense tech company to go public in the United States, which means it's very easy access for anybody who trades stocks in the U.S.,” Fairlamb said.

Defense Builder, a Ukrainian miltech accelerator, is launching its third season of scaling defense-tech startups with a focus on system-level solutions, meaning that it’s looking for unique systems that are suited to modern combat conditions and have been tested in relevant environments, and NATO standards. More than 110 teams applied, but only 10 were selected.

From previous seasons company BaBayte OÜ from season 1 have already scaled up its production and found investor Green Flag Ventures. From season 2 companies like RagingBirds and DroneMateAI have already got orders. 

During the selection process, the accelerator prioritized products that already have a working prototype but need to scale up. Key areas included strike systems, interceptors, remote control and robotics, reconnaissance, communications and control. Preference was also given to systems that are resistant to electronic warfare and have high autonomy.

“We have to think wisely and not copy what already exists, but look for solutions that can adjust or advance equipment being used on the frontline. We also need to think ahead - what problems can we help solve in the next 6–12 months, and of course what needs to be replaced (e.g. components),” Defense Builder told The Arsenal.

Companies are expected to develop solutions that have been battle-tested within the 12 months after the program’s completion.

Russia is sharing intelligence with Iran to help it attack U.S. targets in the Persian Gulf, The Washington Post reported. Earlier, six U.S. service members were killed in an Iranian attack in Kuwait. Trump said that such cooperation is justified, since the U.S. has also provided Ukraine with intelligence to help it wage war against Russia. 

“Russia and Iran have grown closer in recent years, largely because they share some strategic interests and both face Western pressure and sanctions. I would probably describe it as a pragmatic partnership rather than a formal alliance,” Dave Julazadeh, retired USAF Lieutenant General, told The Arsenal.

Iran has several satellites of its own, but assistance from Russia—which has a much larger satellite network and has been operating them in Ukraine for more than four years—makes Tehran’s strikes highly accurate.

“Iran has a fairly capable intelligence system of its own. Like most countries, it includes human networks, technical collection, and cyber capabilities. They’ve operated in the region for a long time,” Julazadeh said.

By: Oksana Zabolotna

Protecting defense information systems 

Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine № 263 dated February 25, 2026

Why it’s important: These amendments provide permission to use information protection tools in systems deployed in cloud environments located outside Ukraine.

This creates more flexible conditions for the implementation of modern IT tools, improves the speed of data processing, and facilitates the integration of new technological solutions in the defense sector.

At the same time, the requirement to use cryptographic protection tools that have undergone state expertise or comply with international security standards strengthens the protection of defense information systems. 

Such approaches help ensure better protection of sensitive information and enhance technological compatibility with international cybersecurity standards.

Proposals:

Stage: Entered into force on February 25.  

Initiator: The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine

What’s next: Implementation of the resolution.

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