Ukrainian defense technology company SkyFall and European aerospace giant Airbus Defence and Space have signed a memorandum of understanding on a strategic partnership at the ILA aerospace exhibition currently underway in Berlin, in the presence of German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius. The announcement was made in an Airbus press release.
SkyFall CEO Mykola Makovyeyev commented that together with Airbus, the companies will develop next-generation technologies for a multi-layered air shield, one that will be of value not only to Ukraine's Defense Forces but to European nations as well.
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Airbus Defence and Space CEO Michael Schollhorn stated: Combining Airbus's systems expertise and command and control experience, particularly in integrated air and missile defense, with Ukraine's invaluable combat experience and battle-tested technologies is another step toward building a resilient, multi-layered air defense system at the speed of the modern battlefield. SkyFall notes that one of the key areas of collaboration will be the integration of P1-SUN anti-drone interceptors with the Airbus Air C2 airspace management system.
Defense Express notes that one detail in the press release deserves particular attention: the Airbus–SkyFall cooperation is stated to support the European initiative known as the European Sky Shield Initiative (ESSI). This hints that Ukrainian drones could become one of the elements of this system, which is of major importance for the protection of European airspace.
This refers above all to the anti-drone interceptor with the telling name P1-SUN. As SkyFall noted, these interceptors have already recorded over 10,000 russian unmanned aerial vehicles destroyed, demonstrating high effectiveness in real combat conditions.
It is also worth recalling that in April this year, P1-SUN interceptors were spotted aboard an An-28 (M28), the first time in history that a light transport aircraft was used as a launch platform for anti-drone interceptors.
This speaks directly to the emergence of a new niche for Ukrainian drones. Airbus is already exploring the integration of anti-drone interceptors onto its helicopters though currently with German company Quantum Systems, which is also actively cooperating with Ukraine and owes much of its progress to the ability to refine its products based on real battlefield operational experience.
SkyFall's portfolio also includes the legendary heavy drone Vampire, dubbed Baba Yaga by the russians, with production now reaching 100,000 units per year, and possibly more.
The effectiveness of this drone is acknowledged by the russians themselves, who recently published an account of how they recovered a downed Vampire and managed to carry out a further 120 combat sorties with it. The enemy also acknowledges that they have so far been unable to produce an equivalent heavy drone, despite a number of development efforts in this direction.
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