Japan buys Ukrainian interception drones for the first time! Shinjiro Koizumi reveals key reasons

The P1-SUN JetKiller interception drone developed by the Ukrainian SkyFall company is designed to intercept aerial threats. (Picture taken from SkyFall page)

[Compiled by Chen Chengliang/Comprehensive Report] The Japanese Ministry of Defense has signed a contract with the Ukrainian defense technology company SkyFall to purchase interception drones, and is working hard to facilitate early delivery. Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi confirmed the news at a press conference on the 9th and talked about the advantages of Ukraine’s military industry that can continue to improve drones in a short period of time.

The record of the press conference released by the Japanese Ministry of Defense shows that when a reporter asked Japan on the 9th about its expectations for the introduction of Ukrainian drones and technical cooperation, Koizumi said that the Ministry of Defense has signed a purchase contract for interception drones with the Ukrainian SkyFall company and is currently working hard to promote early delivery. "Ukrainska Pravda" reported on the 10th that SkyFall's public relations department also confirmed the contract information to the media, but did not disclose the details of the transaction.

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Koizumi said that Ukraine has accumulated rich experience in new combat methods and continues to rapidly improve its combat capabilities. He specifically mentioned the "rapid feedback cycle" and pointed out that Ukrainian manufacturers can launch drones with new capabilities every 2 to 3 weeks. Koizumi also said that Japan needs to learn from Ukraine’s experience in developing defense industries and strengthening its industrial base.

The purchase model and quantity have not yet been announced

The Ukrainian military news website Militarnyi reported that the Ukrainian defense technology company SkyFall has developed a variety of drones, including the "Vampire" heavy bombing drone and the "P1-SUN" series used to intercept Russian attack drones. According to SkyFall statistics, Ukrainian troops have used the P1-SUN system to shoot down more than 3,500 Russian attack drones in half a year.

Some models of the "Geran" series of attack drones used by Russia have direct technical origins with Iran's "Shahed" series. For example, the "Geran-2" is a model developed based on the Iranian "Witness-136" (Shahed-136).

However, the entire "Geranium" series cannot be regarded as a derivative of the "Witness" series; public analysis points out that the jet-powered "Geran-5" (Geran-5) is closer to the Iranian "Karrar" drone in appearance design.

SkyFall's latest improved "P1-SUN JetKiller" is equipped with an artificial intelligence (AI) target locking module. It has a top speed of about 370 kilometers per hour and a ceiling of 9,000 meters. It is designed to intercept jet-powered high-speed aerial targets. A video recently released by SkyFall showed that Ukrainian troops used this interceptor drone to shoot down the Russian "Geranium-5".

However, Koizumi did not disclose the specific model or variant of Japan’s purchase, so it is not yet confirmed whether the contract includes JetKiller.