Lithuania develops new autonomous interceptor to kill kamikaze drones

A Lithuanian drone company has unveiled a purpose-built interceptor designed to destroy Shahed-class attack drones in flight, adding a new kinetic counter-drone weapon to the growing arsenal of small nations that have turned four years of front-line experience in Ukraine into exportable defense technology.

Granta Autonomy announced the Black Wasp on June 24, 2026, describing it as an autonomous interceptor drone built specifically to hunt and destroy enemy strike drones, reconnaissance unmanned aircraft, and loitering munitions, the category of one-way attack drone that includes the Iranian-designed Shahed-136 that Russia has used to strike Ukrainian cities, power infrastructure, and military positions in the hundreds since 2022. The Shahed problem is well understood by now: the drones are cheap, fly at low altitude, and arrive in swarms that overwhelm traditional air defense systems optimized for faster and more expensive targets. Shooting them down with surface-to-air missiles costs more than the drones themselves, which is precisely the economic trap Russia has exploited. The Black Wasp is Granta’s answer to that trap, a drone that kills drones at a cost designed to make the exchange rate work in the defender’s favor.

The Black Wasp weighs approximately 4 kg (8.8 lb), measures 600 mm by 450 mm by 450 mm (23.6 in by 17.7 in by 17.7 in) including its propeller arc, and carries a warhead of up to 500 g (1.1 lb). Those numbers place it in a class of interceptors small enough for infantry units to carry and launch without any ground support infrastructure, a requirement that has become increasingly important as front-line air defense evolves toward distributed, soldier-portable systems rather than centralized launchers that present fixed targets. The drone uses vertical takeoff and landing, meaning a soldier can deploy it from a field position, a rooftop, or any flat surface without launch rails or catapults, and once airborne it transitions to high-speed intercept flight to close on its target.

Speed is central to the Black Wasp’s design, because an interceptor that cannot catch its target is operationally useless regardless of how precise its guidance system is. Granta rates the Black Wasp at a cruise speed of 160 km/h (99 mph) and a maximum speed of 320 km/h (199 mph), figures that place it well above the typical flight speed of Shahed-class drones, which cruise at approximately 185 km/h (115 mph) but represent a genuine closing-speed challenge for slower interceptors approaching from certain angles. The drone’s operational range extends to 20 km (12.4 miles) on a one-way intercept mission or 40 km (24.9 miles) with return capability, and it can operate at altitudes up to 7,000 m (22,966 ft) above mean sea level, covering the full altitude band where most drone threats operate. Endurance runs to 15 minutes at cruise speed or more than 6 minutes at maximum speed, a constraint that reflects the fundamental tradeoff between speed and battery life in small electric unmanned systems, and one that the Black Wasp’s design addresses by prioritizing fast intercept over extended loiter.

The guidance system is where Granta has concentrated its most significant engineering investment. The Black Wasp uses a proprietary artificial intelligence and machine learning flight control system that handles automated flight, precision target tracking, and terminal guidance without requiring a human pilot to manage each stage of the intercept manually. If electronic warfare disrupts GPS or other satellite navigation signals, a scenario that is routine rather than exceptional on the Ukrainian front lines where Russian jamming is pervasive, the onboard machine learning core maintains mission continuity by navigating through alternative means. Terminal guidance uses computer vision algorithms to identify and lock onto the target in the final approach phase, a capability that matters because the final seconds of an intercept against a small, fast-moving drone are too dynamic for human reaction times to manage reliably over a datalink. The system operates its datalink in S-band and C-band frequencies, radio spectrum ranges chosen specifically for their resistance to the jamming techniques most commonly encountered in the current conflict.

Integration with NATO radar networks gives the Black Wasp a sensor reach that extends well beyond its own onboard cameras. Granta says the drone can automatically receive real-time targeting telemetry from compatible NATO military radar platforms, providing the operator with three-dimensional target position data and streamlining the process from initial detection by ground radar to intercept engagement by the drone. That connectivity matters because the fastest part of a counter-drone engagement is not the drone’s flight time to the target but the sensor-to-shooter decision cycle that precedes launch, and cutting seconds off that cycle by automating the data handoff from radar to interceptor directly reduces the probability that the target drone reaches its intended destination.

Granta has been supplying Ukrainian forces continuously since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, a distinction the company shares with only a small number of drone developers, most of them Ukrainian. Its track record includes annual delivery of hundreds of Hornet XR reconnaissance drones and thousands of GA-FPV quadcopters, alongside the more recently introduced X-Wing loitering munition. The Black Wasp completes what Granta describes as a three-tier kill chain ecosystem: the Hornet XR finds targets, the Black Wasp intercepts aerial threats, and the X-Wing strikes ground targets, all operable from a single unified ground control station. That integration reduces the cognitive load on operators managing multiple mission types simultaneously, a factor that carries real operational weight when small units are managing complex air pictures under fire.

Gediminas Guoba, CEO and co-founder of Granta Autonomy, addressed both the operational reasoning behind the Black Wasp and the economic logic that shapes its design. “The Black Wasp is a direct result of our battlefield-tested philosophy and engineering agility. We designed our technology to adapt to the evolving demands of modern conflict and recognized the urgent need for a cost-effective, automated countermeasure against long-range strike drones, like the Shahed. The Black Wasp combines advanced AI-driven target tracking with an EW-resilient control framework, delivering a high price-to-value intercept capability that challenges traditional air defense economics,” Guoba said.

He also addressed the production dimension that separates a working prototype from a weapon that can actually change the battlefield calculus at scale. “Like all Granta solutions, the Black Wasp was designed for scalable manufacturing, allowing rapid supply in significant monthly quantities. We are proud to offer a reliable, accessible, and advanced force multiplier to allied forces facing asymmetric aerial threats,” Guoba said.

Ukraine has been shooting down Shahed drones at a rate that has consumed interceptor missiles, artillery ammunition, and electronic warfare resources faster than Western supply chains have historically been able to replenish them. A drone interceptor that can be produced in large monthly quantities, deployed without infrastructure, and operated by infantry without specialist training represents a fundamentally different approach to the counter-drone problem than the legacy air defense systems that were never designed with this threat in mind. Whether the Black Wasp delivers on those claims in sustained combat conditions is what front-line testing will determine. Granta’s record of continuous operational presence in Ukraine since 2022 suggests the company understands what that test requires.