Ukrainian drones fire shotguns at Russian FPV quadcopters mid-air

Ukrainian crews have turned one of FPV drone racing’s hardest skills, fast target tracking under pressure, into a weapon of war. In eastern Ukraine and the Kharkiv region, operators are flying armed UAVs kilometers from the fight and using shotguns to blast Russian FPV quadcopters out of the air, a close-range contest that looks like racecraft but serves a very different purpose.

The scale of the drone fight explains why. Ukraine said it planned to buy 4.5 million FPV drones in 2025, triple the previous year’s amount, underscoring how small first-person-view aircraft have become one of the most persistent threats on the battlefield. In that environment, every second of pilot input matters: the same split-second corrections, line selection and throttle control prized in competitive FPV racing now decide whether an interceptor drone reaches its target before it can strike troops or vehicles.

Ukraine’s Ministry of Defence authorized the Safari HG-105M semi-automatic shotgun in October 2024 for close combat and FPV drone defense, formally recognizing a tactic that had already been taking shape in the field. By late December 2024, Ukrainian sources were showing footage of FPV drones fitted with shotguns hitting enemy UAVs mid-air. The imagery was striking, but the logic was practical: if electronic warfare could not jam or divert a threat, a flying shotgun gave crews one more shot at stopping it.

That last-line logic has pushed Ukrainian developers toward recoil-management fixes that would make the idea work in the air. Engineers have tested recoilless and countercharged systems to keep a drone stable after firing, and 3DTech developed a six-barrel recoilless shotgun interceptor drone, a design aimed at preserving aim while absorbing the blast. Other Ukrainian companies, including Besomar, have also explored reusable interceptor drones with automated firing systems.

The result is a new kind of aerial duel in which the pilot’s talent still matters, but the objective is destruction rather than competition. For drone racing fans, the resemblance is obvious in the rapid input, tight tracking and aggressive maneuvering. The difference is just as clear: this is FPV skill pushed into a war where cheap quadcopters have become so common that even a shotgun in the sky can look like a necessary answer.