German drone defence firm targets output of 3,000 interceptors monthly

A German defence technology company supplying interceptor drones to Ukraine is preparing to significantly expand production with the opening of a new manufacturing facility capable of producing up to 3,000 drones per month, Defence News reports.

Munich-based Tytan Technologies said operations at its new factory in Germany are expected to begin in August, reflecting growing demand for autonomous systems designed to counter enemy drones.

The company's interceptor drones have been widely deployed in Ukraine, where they have been used to defend against aerial threats at a fraction of the cost of conventional air-defence systems.

Tytan Technologies Chief Executive and co-founder Balázs Nagy said the war in Ukraine had exposed the vulnerabilities of traditional military equipment.

"Legacy systems couldn’t prove themselves in Ukraine. Bigger platforms have been destroyed with just very, very cheap drones. What we are doing at Tytan is we are making protecting the same airspace 200 times cheaper than with legacy systems," Nagy said.

"And how we are doing that is by producing and developing autonomous counter-drone systems to neutralize enemy drones in the air," he added. "This is a major paradigm shift, going from very hard and expensive hardware to very simple and scalable hardware and very sophisticated software."

The company says its systems are now being used by a growing number of countries, including Germany and the Baltic states, prompting plans to expand manufacturing beyond Germany.

Nagy said Poland and Hungary were among the locations being considered for future production facilities.

"With the launch of our new, bigger German factory, we have a blueprint that we can use to scale up production in different regions," Nagy said.

Tytan's product range includes AI-powered autonomous interceptor drones designed to destroy hostile unmanned aircraft. Its EOS system is a short-range multicopter interceptor intended to counter small NATO Class I drones, while the METIS is a longer-range fixed-wing platform developed to engage larger NATO Class II unmanned threats.

By Aghakazim Guliyev