JEDI

JEDI is the name attached to a Ukrainian interceptor system whose flagship is the JEDI Shahed Hunter, a vertically launched multirotor built to chase down Russian Shahed-type loitering munitions. The drone weighs just over four kilograms, carries a warhead of up to roughly 500 grams, and — according to the developer’s figures relayed by Ukraine’s Ministry of Defence — accelerates past 350 km/h and climbs to altitudes of up to six kilometres on four electric motors. It receives cueing data automatically from radar stations, then acquires, tracks and homes in on its target using daylight and thermal cameras, allowing day-and-night operation. A single drone is described as able to defend an airspace radius of up to about 40 kilometres against Shahed, Geran and Gerbera strike drones, as well as Zala and Supercam reconnaissance platforms.

Ukraine’s Ministry of Defence codified the system and authorised it for operational use in a release dated 23 March 2026, with the underlying aviation system reported to have cleared codification earlier in the year. JEDI is distributed through the Brave1 defence-technology marketplace, where the daylight-camera version is listed at around €1,328 and the thermal-imaging variant at about €1,743 — a fraction of the cost of the surface-to-air missiles that would otherwise be spent against a cheap one-way attack drone. That arithmetic is the point: interceptors like JEDI are meant to absorb the nightly Shahed barrages and free scarcer munitions for harder targets.

Unusually for a fielded weapon, the company behind JEDI has chosen to stay unnamed in public reporting; coverage that draws directly on manufacturer briefings still refers only to “the manufacturer,” a posture widely read as operational security in a war where Russian intelligence targets Ukrainian developers. JEDI sits within a growing tier of fast, low-cost Ukrainian drone interceptors aimed at the Shahed problem, alongside the Sting from Wild Hornets and work by Fire Point .