How Ukraine's Sky Map Anti-Drone System Is Being Deployed in the Gulf
AJLabs
Ukraine has transferred counter-drone technology, including the Sky Map command-and-control system, to Gulf nations, enabling detection and destruction of cheap UAVs using interceptor drones far cheaper than traditional air-defense missiles. Ukrainian President Zelensky signed defense pacts with Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar, and confirmed Ukrainian forces have used domestically built interceptors against Iranian Shahed drones in Gulf states. The U.S. military has also deployed Sky Map at a Saudi airbase, with Ukrainian officers training American troops.
Recent conflicts between the United States, Israel, and Iran have seen a surge in the use of low-cost, mass-produced one-way attack drones to strike energy facilities, airbases, and strategic targets across the Gulf and Israel. To counter this threat, Gulf states and their U.S. partners have turned to Ukraine's battle-tested counter-drone technology, honed against Russian drone barrages.
In late March, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar to market counter-drone expertise, signing 10-year defense pacts with all three nations. He later confirmed that Ukrainian forces have been actively engaged in operations using domestically built interceptor drones to shoot down Iranian Shahed drones in several Gulf countries. According to Reuters, the U.S. military has also deployed Sky Map, a Ukrainian command-and-control platform for detecting incoming drones, at Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia, with Ukrainian officers training U.S. troops on the software.
Sky Map is a Ukrainian software platform that can identify incoming drone attacks and respond with its own interceptor drones. Sky Fortress, the company behind Sky Map, was founded in 2022 and is funded by the Ukrainian military. According to Reuters, the firm has placed more than 10,000 acoustic sensors across Ukraine to detect incoming drone attacks. These sensors are essentially highly sensitive microphones deployed nationwide to listen for the distinctive sounds of drone engines. Sky Map integrates acoustic sensors, radar, and AI systems to detect threats and guide air-defense systems.
Each interceptor drone is operated by a trained pilot who monitors the drone's camera feed in real-time on a screen or through FPV goggles near the combat zone. The technology is increasingly automated, with on-board sensors and AI-backed inertial navigation systems allowing drones to make rapid mid-air adjustments, track moving targets, and maintain precise flight paths even when GPS signals are jammed.
According to the Ukrainian Defense Council, shooting down a Shahed drone with an interceptor drone is more than 25 times cheaper than using a Western-style air-defense missile. Analysts say these drones can handle a range of attacks but cannot intercept ballistic missiles. Last month, the Pentagon announced it is committing $350 million to its counter-drone unit, including cameras, sensors, and interceptor drones to support defenses against drone attacks in the current conflict.
Current U.S. air-defense systems struggle to eliminate mass one-way drone swarms, as they are too fast for these systems and often evade detection. Additionally, the cost of air-defense systems is often prohibitively high to deploy against the sheer volume of incoming drones.
