WARSAW, Poland — Estonian unmanned aerial system producer KrattWorks is developing a new aerial target drone that will mimic the operations of jet-powered Shahed-type drones, enabling militaries to practice shooting down one of the main aerial threats used by Russia in its ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
As part of its international expansion plans, the company is promoting its unmanned solutions at this year’s AUSA conference in Washington as it seeks to strengthen its presence in the United States.
The company is pushing the project as numerous anti-drone system producers in Ukraine and other European countries are striving to make their interceptors cheaper than the targets they are meant to strike, and also suitable for mass production using readily available components.
Ranno Pajuri, business development manager at KrattWorks, told Defense News the new dummy drone is expected to be presented by the end of 2027.
“We need to obtain a working prototype that is reliable enough. The good thing is that we have software which can be adapted to different hardware quite easily,” he said. “But if the drone becomes so much different from what we have today and so much faster, then there are many variables to consider before it is stabilized and ready for a demonstration.”
The Ukrainian Army, to which the Estonian company has supplied one-way attack drones as well as other products such as its Ghost Dragon ISR drone, is one of the potential users of the new solution. KrattWorks has delivered its UAVs to customers in Europe, and the company is currently making efforts to boost its foothold in the United States as well as various markets in Asia and Africa. KrattWorks says its Ghost Dragon ISR systems have also been deployed in Estonia, Georgia and Moldova, among others.
“We produce our drones in Estonia. We have enough extra capacity to ramp up the production if the demand will grow. Aerial target drones are usually made within quite a short lead time,” Pajuri said. “But we are open to some level of transfer of production if this is necessary and the demand is large enough in the country to which we are selling our products.”
KrattWorks says its product portfolio includes the DART fixed-wing aerial target, which is intended for use against air-defense missiles, heavy machine guns and anti-aircraft cannons, and the DART-R, an aerial target decoy fitted with a radar reflector that can reach a maximum speed of 200 km/h (124 mph), according to data from the company. KrattWorks also makes the PARM aerial target quadcopter.
The manufacturer said it “builds ISR drones with wide frequency band-hopping radios and GNSS-free flight modes to help first responders and servicemen to gain fast situational awareness in situations where every second counts.”
The business cooperates closely with the Ukrainian Armed Forces and studies the UAV attacks that take place in Ukraine and the evolving tactics used there to improve its products. KrattWorks makes efforts to ensure that its aerial target drones mimic the latest operational trends and act in a realistic manner, the company representative said.
In its September 2026 report on Russia’s use of UAVs against Ukraine, the Institute for Science and International Security, a Washington-based think tank, said the Russian military used an estimated 5,166 Shahed-type drones, including decoys, against Ukrainian targets in August alone.
Meanwhile, the Office of the President of Ukraine said on Sept. 28 that the country’s military had reached an overall drone shoot-down rate of 70%, including both piston-powered and jet-powered Shaheds.
“But for jet-powered ‘Shaheds,’ unfortunately, the rate is much lower than it needs to be – 57%,” the office said in a statement. “New interceptors are being actively tested. Some combat teams are already using them, but of course, some details still need to be refined to ensure sufficient effectiveness and deployment at scale. We are pushing the developers to move faster.”
Jaroslaw Adamowski is the Poland correspondent for Defense News.
