Defense Minister: Private air defense groups start working in Ukraine

The first group of air defense systems trained by one of the companies participating in the pilot project is already operating and shooting down enemy targets. Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov announced this on his Facebook page on Monday, March 30.

An experimental project has been launched in Ukraine to involve the private sector in the air defense system, Fedorov said. According to him, a group of one of the companies has already shot down several russian drones (Shahed and Zala) in the Kharkiv Region. Groups are currently being formed at 13 other companies.

"Private air defense is integrated into the unified command and control system of the Ukrainian Air Force and is already operating in it, protecting facilities and participating in the interception of Shahed. This is a systemic solution that allows us to rapidly scale air defense capabilities without additional burden on frontline units. We have created a model where the state, military and business work as a single system," the Defense Minister said.

Private groups receive weapons, operate under the coordination of the Air Force and become part of the overall architecture of sky defense.

As the Ukrainian News agency earlier reported, on March 28, Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov announced the launch of the Defense AI Center "A1" to accelerate the introduction of artificial intelligence capabilities in warfare.