WINFLY's Spider spends a net, not the whole interceptor

The reusable drone cuts the cost of catching slow, low targets, but its 160 km/h speed leaves jet-powered Shaheds to faster interceptors.

Ukrainian maker WINFLY unveiled the Spider on Aug. 11, an interceptor drone that catches other drones in a net and returns for reuse instead of ramming them, Ukrainska Pravda reported.

The Spider uses WINFLY's existing WINFLY 10 Hunter airframe. The base Hunter operated as a kamikaze, while the Spider carries Karakurt's KARAKURT-K2 launcher, dev.ua wrote. The launcher fires a net that entangles the target's rotors. Spider can then return, load another cartridge and fly again.

Each cartridge costs 1,100 hryvnia, about $26, according to WINFLY. The Hunter itself previously sold for 29,400 hryvnia and now starts at 35,000 hryvnia depending on configuration, dev.ua found. Recovering the airframe shifts the recurring expense from the interceptor to the net.