Forbes: Dual-shotgun drones join Ukraine’s counter-drone arsenal

December 30, 2024

By Ukraine

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Ukraine has developed a new counter-drone platform dubbed Winchester, equipped with twin shotguns to intercept enemy drones, Forbes reports. This innovation adds to Ukraine’s growing counter-drone arsenal, alongside widely used FPV drone interceptors and less common drone-deployed nets for capturing enemy drones.

The innovation comes as both Russia and Ukraine each produce approximately 100,000 small drones monthly along the 1,170-kilometer or 727-mile front line of Russia’s 34-month all-out war on Ukraine.

Forbes notes:

“Russian and Ukrainian technicians have been fitting guns to drones for a while now. But the dual shotgun armament seems to be a new development.”

The development addresses a critical battlefield need, as drones are used extensively for surveillance, artillery targeting, supply drops, and direct attacks. Ukrainian forces can now engage hostile drones at greater distances, before they threaten ground troops.

The platform’s design leverages shotgun pellets’ spread pattern to increase hit probability against nimble drone targets. While lacking the stopping power of rifle rounds, the shotgun configuration proves effective as drones are typically fragile and require minimal damage for catastrophic failure.

The Foundation for Assistance to Defenders of Ukraine is currently fundraising to procure more Winchester drones for Ukrainian brigades.

Ground forces on both sides have also employed shotguns against drones, with some Russian troops reportedly requesting civilian shotguns when military-issued weapons were unavailable.

“Please help us with pump-action shotguns,” Forbes quotes one Russian soldier’s video message from spring. “Any sh*t will do.”

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