Scopa Industries

Scopa Industries is a Ukrainian engineering firm developing the Shepit (“Whisper”) pulsejet engine, a propulsion unit intended for high-speed strike and interceptor drones. The engine is built entirely from Ukrainian-made components and stainless steel, producing roughly 18 kg of thrust at a dead weight of about 6.5 kg. Depending on the airframe, the company expects speeds in the range of 500 to 700 km/h and a flight range of up to around 200 km, running on ordinary A-95 petrol. Scopa frames the engine’s simplicity of design and maintenance as its main advantage.

The Shepit was shown publicly at the Brave1 Components exhibition, the state defence-technology cluster’s hardware showcase, and the company has said a Brave1 grant went toward developing a remote engine-start system — a feature that matters for a munition that may sit on a rail until launch. As of late 2025 the engine had completed a series of ground tests, with stable ground running limited to about five minutes before overheating, and was being prepared for flight tests, where airflow cooling is expected to extend run time. Scopa has put the cost of a single unit — engine, fuel system and ignition together — at roughly US$1,000, low enough, it argues, that the same propulsion could power decoy drones meant to draw out Russian air defences as well as strike platforms.

In September 2025 Scopa was selected by the Oppenheimer Acceleration Fund, an American-Ukrainian venture vehicle founded by Alexander Soroka, which backs early-stage Ukrainian defence-tech teams through an accelerator programme. Reporting at the time described Scopa’s engine as already in limited production and being supplied to Ukrainian missile-system developers.

Scopa is part of a wave of Ukrainian teams racing to build domestic mini jet and pulsejet engines, a category in which Ukraine’s long-range and interceptor drone production has been bottlenecked by reliance on foreign suppliers. It develops in parallel with firms such as First Parsec and KB Nezalezhne , which are pursuing similar pulsejet propulsion lines.