{"id":29385,"date":"2026-05-13T17:17:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T14:17:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thedefender.media\/?p=29385"},"modified":"2026-05-19T18:11:37","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T15:11:37","slug":"terminal-guidance-interceptor-drones","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedefender.media\/en\/2026\/05\/terminal-guidance-interceptor-drones\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cThe Last Mile\u201d for interceptor drones: How far has the development of terminal guidance systems progressed"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Terminal guidance for FPV drones has been discussed since at least 2024. Since then, an increasing number of developer companies have emerged on the market, and more footage from military personnel showing strikes using this system has appeared online.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More recently, terminal guidance technology has been adopted by interceptor drones. Dozens of companies are already working on it, according to the state cluster Brave1. For Brave1, this is one of its priority areas for 2026, as the technology improves the effectiveness of air defence. At the same time, for many manufacturers, terminal guidance is an intermediate step towards full autonomy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regardless, several of the interviewed speakers say the technology is not yet widespread enough. Military personnel explain that both terminal guidance and automatic target detection assist them, with these functions working in tandem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Defender Media asked manufacturers, associations, and military personnel about the scalability of terminal guidance on interceptors, how it works, and the challenges of its development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What Ukrainian companies are working on<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

One of the companies selling interceptors with out-of-the-box terminal guidance is F-Drones. Military personnel are already using their F7 LITAVR<\/a> drone to shoot down Russian Shaheds, Gerans, and Gerberas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company’s founders planned three levels of autonomy from the outset: the first is standard manual control, the second is terminal guidance over what is known as the last mile, and the third is full autonomy. Testing of the terminal guidance system began last year. Drones produced from March 2026 onwards already have it on board, while older models are being retrofitted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The system works in essentially the same way as terminal guidance on standard FPV drones. At a certain distance, target highlighting appears \u2013 typically within 2 km, though this depends on weather conditions. Once the target is visually confirmed, the operator presses the Intercept button, and the interceptor flies autonomously to it. The pilot can still control the drone’s thrust and detonate it remotely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

LITAVR F7 shoots down an enemy drone (Manufacturer’s video)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

An F-Drones representative says the company tested third-party solutions but settled on in-house development. This ensures confidence in the component supply chain. It also makes it easier to modify the module. The terminal guidance system has not affected the drone’s final price. The company says it deliberately accepted a reduction in profitability by including the guidance module in the specification without raising the price.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The F7 LITAVR costs 83,000 UAH. The manufacturer says it does not plan to sell guidance modules separately.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, startup The Fourth Law is prepared to supply interceptor manufacturers with its own module \u2013 TFL Anti-Shahed. It was presented in March 2026 alongside the company’s new interceptor, Zerov-8<\/a>. This is a zero-level autonomy system, as The Fourth Law co-founder Yaroslav Azhnyuk describes it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Read more:<\/strong> Ukrainian drone autonomy startup The Fourth Law secures strategic investment from US corporation Axon Enterprise<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

How it works: the module highlights the target for the pilot so they can spot it earlier. The CEO adds that this doubles the distance at which the target can be seen, and under certain weather conditions, triples it. “Pegasus”, chief sergeant of the anti-drone platoon of the 413th USF Regiment “Raid”, says that machine vision does indeed detect movement of small objects faster, but this depends on the weather \u2013 in cloud cover, for instance, even a computer struggles. “Hephaestus” from the 190th USF Training Centre adds that the technology helps detect white Gerberas more quickly, which are difficult to spot in bright light.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The next stage in the evolution of the TFL module is to be terminal guidance, whereby autonomous flight can be activated once a target has been locked. Like F-Drones, TFL ultimately wants to move towards even greater autonomy: “We are bringing the system to a level at which it will be able not only to detect but also to make engagement decisions,” Azhnyuk explains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the end-state scenario, the system will itself propose launching a drone, the operator will confirm this, and one or several interceptors will then fly without pilot input.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Zerov-8 drone (Photo: The Fourth Law)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

SkyFall <\/a>has also developed terminal guidance technology for its P1-SUN interceptors. It was created by the company’s R&D division and is based on specialised neural network architectures. SkyFall says it collects and annotates thousands of hours of real flight data and simulation data to train its neural networks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The system works in combination with a thermal camera. Target acquisition of Shahed-type targets is possible at distances of up to 500 metres, while narrow-angle optics allow the detection radius to be extended to 800 metres. Once the object has been confirmed by the operator, the interceptor automatically tracks and engages the target. The company says combat use has taken place “on multiple times.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not yet widespread, but with potential<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Yaroslav Azhnyuk says that “quite a few other manufacturers are using TFL Anti-Shahed on their platforms.” He adds, however, that the technology is not yet sufficiently widespread. Brave1 shares this view, though it sees potential in it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the cluster, several dozen Ukrainian member companies are working on terminal guidance systems for interceptors. The degree of readiness varies: some manufacturers are showing good results, while some solutions are still at the development stage. Within the IRON cluster, at least five companies are working on terminal guidance systems for interceptors, says its CEO, Volodymyr Cherniuk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The target highlighting and detection system is often more critical than terminal guidance. But all of this must work together. Certain elements of autonomy have already been implemented on some platforms, while others are still in development and require significant further work,” Cherniuk adds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DoD Solution, which recently raised investment for this purpose from Angel One, is developing its own module and software. The company already has a working foundation and is now bringing the system to stable operation, says CTO Ihor Yevchynets. The expected cost of the computer for interceptors is $450\u2013550, the company’s CEO, Roman Hapachylo<\/a>, said previously. The company’s ultimate mission is to provide full autonomy so that a single operator can dispatch several drones into the engagement zone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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