Ukraine Debuts Modular Shotgun Drone That Hunts Enemy FPV Drones at Ultra Close Range.

Ukraine’s Varta company has introduced a modular shotgun-based interceptor drone designed to knock down hostile UAVs at close range, using 12-gauge anti-drone cartridges and compact kinetic payloads. The system reflects a rapid shift toward low-cost layered air defense as Ukrainian units face constant Russian FPV and reconnaissance drone attacks.

On 5 December 2025, Ukrainian firm Varta publicly unveiled a compact shotgun-equipped interceptor module intended to give frontline units a low-cost tool for swatting down hostile drones in the final seconds before impact, according to reporting from Ukrainska Pravda and Dev.ua. The DroneHunter system, which mounts on existing FPV and multirotor airframes, uses electrically initiated 12-gauge cartridges developed in Ukraine and has already been integrated onto more than a dozen domestic UAV types, with over 20 frontline units operating the payload in combat, the outlets noted.
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Varta’s DroneHunter is a modular interceptor drone with a 12-gauge shotgun module that uses AI-assisted targeting to track and shoot down hostile FPV and reconnaissance drones at close range over frontline units (Picture source: Ukrainska Pravda).

At the heart of the concept is the Varta DroneHunter module, a compact kinetic counter-UAS payload that bolts onto existing FPV and multirotor airframes. The system uses electrically initiated 12-gauge anti-drone cartridges produced in Ukraine in at least two variants tailored to different target types. Dev.ua reports that the module’s effective engagement envelope runs from roughly 5 to 20 meters, with two to four barrels available to increase the density of shot in a single firing sequence. The unit weighs about 2.3 kg, light enough to mount on mid-size 7 to 15 inch FPV drones without sacrificing maneuverability.

Defense specialists note that Varta has already integrated the shotgun module onto more than 15 different Ukrainian UAV types, and that over 20 frontline units are operating it in combat conditions. The starter kit, which includes two barrels, an initiation board, mounting hardware, and 12 specialized rounds, is priced at about 12,900 hryvnia, roughly 300 dollars, with each shot costing close to 6 to 7 euros. That cost structure is deliberately aimed at a one-flight-one-kill philosophy: expending a single round to destroy a hostile quadcopter or FPV loitering munition is dramatically cheaper than losing a howitzer, truck, or armored vehicle.

Where the DroneHunter concept becomes strategically interesting is the pairing with Varta’s separate Dozor AI interceptor drone program. Dev.ua describes Dozor AI as an autonomous system capable of detecting, identifying, and tracking enemy FPV and reconnaissance drones even under heavy electronic warfare conditions, and stresses that integration with Ukraine’s DELTA digital situational awareness network could let a single operator control five to seven interceptors inside a localized small sky air defense bubble. In practical terms, the Ukrainian Armed Forces could park a swarm of DroneHunter-equipped multicopters above critical nodes such as bridges, ammunition transshipment points, or brigade command posts, using AI to cue the shotgun drones onto incoming threats.

On the firing side, Varta’s engineers are trying to automate what today is often a brutally manual skill. Le Monde has reported that Ukrainian instructors running the Dronocide program train soldiers to shoot down FPV drones with shotguns, noting that enemy UAVs are responsible for the overwhelming majority of frontline casualties and equipment losses. Those shotguns are cheap but unforgiving: a human gunner has only a two or three-second window to hit a drone before the warhead arrives. By putting the gun on the drone and adding AI-assisted range and lead calculation, Varta is attempting to shift that burden from exhausted infantry in trenches to semi-autonomous airborne interceptors. Early tests cited by Ukrainian media suggest the sensor module can detect and recognize drones at roughly 126 meters before closing to firing distance.

On the front line against Russia, the tactical employment is straightforward and ruthless. DroneHunter platforms can be flown as roaming pickets just above friendly trench lines to swat down Russian FPV drones diving on infantry, or positioned as overwatch for artillery batteries that have become priority targets for Lancet and Molniya loitering munitions. Because the payload is modular and NATO standard, according to Varta’s own corporate profile, it can be rapidly bolted onto whatever Ukrainian airframe is available that day, from charity-funded FPVs to unit-built quadcopters. For Ukraine’s decentralized drone ecosystem, that flexibility is as important as pure performance.

Varta’s system is not emerging in a vacuum; it is documented that Ukrainian units are using double-barreled recoilless shotgun drones to blast Russian Mavic-class quadcopters out of the sky, adapting a century-old Davis gun principle to stabilize the platform. And Varta is only one player in a broader Ukrainian interceptor wave: the Besomar 3210 reusable interceptor, presented at Iron Demo 2025, uses a nose-mounted 12-gauge shotgun linked to a thermal camera and automated firing logic to hunt Geran 2 or Shahed-type drones at short range. Globally, armed multicopters such as Turkey’s Songar and Israel’s Smash Dragon demonstrate the same trajectory toward gun-carrying UAVs, but Varta’s DroneHunter is unusual in being optimized from the outset as an affordable, modular counter-drone layer rather than a strike system.

For Western planners watching Ukraine as a live laboratory, Varta’s shotgun drone is a warning as much as a curiosity. It shows how quickly a mid-sized defense startup, working hand in glove with frontline units, can turn civilian shotguns and 12-gauge cartridges into a networked, AI-assisted air defense tool that plugs straight into brigade command systems. For the Ukrainian Armed Forces, DroneHunter will not replace higher-end SHORAD missiles or electronic warfare, but it promises to thicken the last 20 meters of airspace above the trench line with steel pellets instead of hope.