Ukraine’s New Ammo Turns Ordinary Rifles Into Drone Killers
Ukraine’s defense innovation cluster Brave1 has introduced the country’s first dedicated anti-drone ammunition designed for standard infantry rifles. The new rounds dramatically improve a soldier’s chances of hitting fast-moving aerial targets—such as FPV drones or commercial quadcopters—before they strike.
Though the cartridges resemble regular 5.45 mm rounds, they feature a custom-designed warhead that creates a dense and rapid fragmentation effect upon firing.
This enables soldiers to engage airborne threats with significantly higher accuracy using conventional automatic rifles—no modifications needed.
Video footage released by the developers shows Ukrainian troops using the rounds in live testing, successfully hitting FPV drones mid-flight.
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According to Brave1, the ammunition has already been codified for use and is intended for mass deployment. The goal is to equip every infantry soldier with at least one magazine of these anti-drone rounds to provide immediate, last-resort protection during air alerts on the front lines.
The system offers both tactical speed and safety, addressing one of the biggest battlefield threats faced by Ukrainian forces: low-cost, high-impact drone strikes.
Fighting FPV Drones with Innovation, not Just Armour
FPV drones have rapidly become one of the most dangerous and unpredictable threats on the battlefield. Small, fast, and often packed with explosives, they can slip past traditional air defenses and strike with deadly precision.
Their low flight altitude and erratic maneuvering make them extremely hard to intercept using conventional means.
Ukraine’s response has been to combine layered defense systems—electronic warfare, drone-jamming rifles, net traps, and now, specialized ammunition. Each tool fills a different gap in the protective “anti-drone net” being built across the front.
The newly developed anti-drone rounds represent a critical link in this chain. Unlike jammers or advanced interceptors, these cartridges can be carried by every soldier and used on instinct, seconds before impact. In close-quarters environments—trenches, forest lines, urban combat—they may be the only effective option.
Source: UNITED24
