Ukrainian Firms Receive $1M to Beat Iranian Shahed UAVs

Ukraine’s Ministry of Digital Transformation has awarded three Ukrainian firms $1 million to develop counter drone technology to down Iranian Shahed loitering munitions.

On June 24-25, the second annual Anti-Shahеd Drone Hackathon took place in Ukraine. The contest brought together developers, engineers, cyber specialists, and enthusiasts who are developing advanced systems and technologies to detect, track, and destroy enemy drones.

50 teams presented their projects to representatives of the Security and Defense Forces of Ukraine, of which three winners were selected.

Each of them will receive $1 million to implement and scale up technological developments that will help fight against Iranian-made Shahed drones.

“It is now critically important to develop alternative systems to counter the Iranian Shahed drones. We have great cases with the Army of Drones when not only foreign drones but also domestically produced UAVs were supplied to the front line. The same should be implemented with the development of Ukrainian sky protection systems,” said Mykhailo Fedorov, Deputy Prime Minister for Innovation, Education, Science, and Technology, Minister for Digital Transformation.

The new technologies are designed to help fight Iranian Shahed UAVs so as not to waste Ukrainian air defense resources on their destruction.