Ukrainian troops say a homegrown interceptor, the General Cherry AIR, has destroyed a rare Russian AI-powered loitering munition called the Klin, turning one of Moscow’s most hyped new weapons into debris in the sky. The strike, reported by the 118th Separate Mechanized Brigade, shows how quickly Ukrainian engineers are reacting to new Russian autonomous drones and adapting their own designs to meet them.
The General Cherry AIR is a Ukrainian-made interceptor drone built to chase and ram or disable enemy unmanned aircraft before they reach their targets. Its win over the Klin is more than a dramatic single kill; it points to a shift in advantage toward agile, domestically produced interceptors that can be upgraded as fast as the threat changes, with Ukrainian media stressing that the system is part of a wider push to field hundreds of such drones along the front.
How General Cherry hunted the Klin
Ukrainian accounts state that the Klin, a newly developed Russian strike drone with AI guidance, was destroyed in one of its first operational flights by units of the 118th Separate Mechanized Brigade. According to Ukrainian reporting, the interceptor used was the General Cherry AIR, a Ukrainian-made system that operators steer toward incoming drones for a direct collision. In this case, Russia’s much-advertised AI drone met an equally modern countermeasure and was destroyed almost immediately.
Russian sources had promoted the Klin as a loitering munition able to autonomously strike targets at distances of up to 120 kilometers, giving it time to circle and pick the best moment to attack. Coverage of related Russian designs such as the KUB-2-2E notes that these munitions are built for long-range autonomous strikes at ranges of 40 to 120 kilometers, depending on the payload and profile. In this engagement, however, the Klin was removed from the sky by a short-range interceptor that could be guided quickly onto a single high-value target, underscoring that range and autonomy do not guarantee safety once an agile defender can close the gap.
From General Chereshnya to AIR Pro
The General Cherry AIR grew out of earlier Ukrainian work on interceptor drones. Reports on General Chereshnya AIR describe a domestically produced interceptor with a 22‑kilometer range, a flight altitude of up to 5 kilometers, and a target detection range of about 1.5 kilometers. Those figures give Ukrainian operators a broad engagement zone for low and medium altitude threats, letting them meet drones well before they reach cities, logistics hubs, or front-line positions.
Developers then moved to a more advanced variant known as AIR Pro. According to technical data shared by the company, this interceptor can reach speeds above 200 kilometers per hour, stay airborne for up to 35 minutes, and operate at altitudes up to 4 kilometers while keeping stable height during sharp maneuvers. The firm behind the system says the AIR Pro is meant to plug into Ukraine’s layered air-defense network, sitting between heavy surface-to-air missiles and small quadcopters. In practice, that means Ukrainian units can choose between interceptors with different speed, range, and endurance profiles to counter a wide mix of Russian drones.
General Cherry AIR and AI drone duels
The General Cherry AIR is described in Ukrainian sources as a locally made interceptor that rammed and destroyed a rare Russian AI-powered loitering munition. That pairing matters because it shows that AI-guided attack drones are no longer facing only static air defenses or slow human-operated guns. They are now meeting other unmanned systems that can react faster than a human crew and can be risked on aggressive intercept courses without putting pilots in danger. In this case, the Klin did not just lose to a missile battery; it lost to another robot in a direct mid-air clash.
Reporting on the Klin’s debut notes that Russian designers had presented it as a new AI loitering system with autonomous strike capability out to about 120 kilometers and links to export-focused drones such as the KUB-2-2E. Set against the General Cherry AIR’s role, the engagement looks like a live test of two different approaches to AI in warfare. Russian engineers appear to have focused on long-range autonomous strike, while Ukrainian teams have invested in interceptors that can be guided quickly to a specific target and sacrifice themselves on impact. The fact that Klin was destroyed in one of its first recorded combat flights suggests that long-range autonomy alone is not enough if the other side can field fast, disposable interceptors.
Expanding the interceptor family
General Cherry has continued to widen its family of interceptors after the General Cherry AIR’s reported success. A newer model, the AIR Speed, is described as designed for targeting small-sized objects such as compact reconnaissance drones and first-person-view (FPV) strike drones. Technical notes on the AIR Speed interceptor explain that it uses a high-thrust power unit and a reinforced frame to maneuver sharply against tiny, agile targets, while a related model is tuned for deeper air reconnaissance.
Earlier Ukrainian interceptor designs have also been used for both reconnaissance and attack missions. One account of Ukrainian developers describes an interceptor drone called General Chereshnya that has shot down enemy Geran (often nicknamed “Gerbera”) drones mid-air while also carrying out scouting and strike tasks. In that report, engineers say their interceptor has successfully engaged Shahed-type UAV decoys, which Russia uses to confuse air defenses, and has still been able to perform its own attacks. This dual role shows how, in practice, the line between “interceptor” and “attack drone” is already blurred, with systems like the Ukrainian interceptor both hunting other drones and striking ground targets when needed.
What the Klin’s loss reveals about AI warfare
The Klin’s early destruction raises a basic question: how much advantage does autonomy bring if the other side can see you and reach you quickly? The Klin is described as a loitering munition with AI features, but it still has to fly through contested airspace and follow a flight pattern that its software can manage. An interceptor like General Cherry AIR, flown by human operators but using its own automated course corrections, can turn that pattern into a weakness by forcing the Klin to react in real time to a closing threat it may not have been trained to escape.
Just as significant is that the Klin was defeated by a system that is itself part of a layered, AI-enabled defense. The AIR Pro variant is described as one element of Ukraine’s layered air-defense system, with its high speed and 35‑minute flight time tuned to chase and ram small, agile drones. When combined with the General Chereshnya AIR’s 22‑kilometer range and 5‑kilometer ceiling, Ukraine is building a mesh of interceptors that can meet AI-powered threats at different points along their route, from 1.5 kilometers out to the edge of a 22‑kilometer defensive ring. That suggests future Russian designs, whether labeled Klin or linked to export models like the KUB‑2‑2E drone, will have to devote more computing power to evasion and route planning, not just target selection.
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*This article was researched with the help of AI, with human editors creating the final content.
