Ukraine Turned a “FISH NET” Into the Weapon Russia FEARS Most

The Military Show

Ukraine’s defense sector has introduced the WINFLY Spider, a reusable interceptor drone built on the WINFLY 10 Hunter chassis and equipped with a KARAKURT-K2 net launcher. By deploying a $27 (1,100 UAH) net to entangle and neutralize incoming propeller-driven Shahed variants and reconnaissance UAVs, the system avoids self-destruction, drastically lowering air defense costs compared to single-use kamikaze interceptors. Crucially, capturing intact enemy drones feeds deep technical intelligence into platforms like TrophyLab, while allowing Ukraine to reserve high-speed interceptors for faster, jet-powered threats.  ⏱️ CHAPTERS: 00:00 - Ukraine WINFLY Spider Drone Uses Fish Nets to Catch Shaheds 01:15 - WINFLY 10 Hunter Chassis Reaches 5,000m Altitudes 02:30 - KARAKURT-K2 Net Launcher Fires 3x3 Meter Nets 04:00 - Video Proof Demonstrates WINFLY Spider Mid-Air Interception 05:30 - Russia Equips Submarine Bases With Anti-Drone Netting 07:00 - Ptashka Drones Exports Infantry Net Guns to Estonia 08:30 - How $27 Reusable Nets Save Millions Over Kamikaze Drones 10:15 - Russian Barrages Unleash 9,000 Missiles and Drones Monthly 12:00 - Russia Amasses 6,200 Shahed Reserve to Overwhelm Air Defenses 13:45 - Jet-Powered Shaheds Evade Standard Ukrainian Interceptors 15:30 - LITAVR+ Interceptor Drone Reaches 400 km/h Top Speed 17:15 - Capturing Intact Drones Unlocks Russian Military Tech 19:00 - TrophyLab Database Shares Russian Drone Intelligence With Allies 20:45 - Russian Drones Infiltrate Romanian and European Airspace 22:30 - Will Reusable Net Drones Defeat Russia's Shahed Swarms?  Support us directly as we bring you independent, up-to-date reporting on military news and global conflicts by clicking here: https://www.youtube.com/@TheMilitaryShow/join  #militarystrategy #militarydevelopments #militaryanalysis #themilitaryshow  SOURCES: https://pastebin.com/saiGr8M9

Transcript

00:00Ukraine is going fishing. That seems like an odd thing to do when you're embroiled in a multi-year

00:05war with forces led by a psychopath. But this is a very special kind of fishing. Ukraine isn't

00:11using rods, it doesn't even need bait. All it requires are drones and some very clever mechanisms

00:16designed to unleash nets into the air. And there you have it, the most bizarre yet brilliantly

00:22simple way that Ukraine has come up with for hunting down Russian drones. Russia doesn't

00:27know what to do. Its Shahids are being treated like sardines as Ukraine uses its new fishnet

00:33strategy to take them out of the skies. It all sounds crazy, right? Well, we'd like to introduce

00:38you to the Windfly Spider. First reported on by Militanyi, this amazing new drone is built

00:45using the chassis of a Windfly 10 Hunter drone, and it's impressive enough in its own right.

00:51Capable of reaching altitudes of up to 5,000 meters and hitting a top speed of 160 kilometers

00:56per hour. The drone is fast enough and flies high enough to deal with most Russian strike

01:01drones as a kamikaze threat. Throw a range of more than 18 kilometers into the mix, and

01:06you can even argue that the drone veers close to being a mid-range air defense threat, rather

01:11than merely a short-range defender. The drone is smart and easy to set up too, taking just

01:17three minutes to deploy. It can stay in the air for up to 25 minutes and is capable of detecting

01:22and recognizing targets at a distance of 500 meters. With the Windfly 10 Hunter, Ukraine

01:28had a drone that was perfect for loitering in threatened airspace, ready to strike whenever

01:33a Shahid got near. But that wasn't enough for Ukraine. Recognizing the potential in the

01:38Windfly 10 Hunter, Ukraine's brilliant innovators asked themselves what they could do to make

01:43the drone an even more effective threat against Russia's long-range drones. Adonet was the answer

01:49they came up with. Specifically, the Karakurt K2 Net Launcher, which is now being integrated

01:55into Windfly 10 Hunter drones to create a new beast entirely, the Windfly Spider.

02:02The name is symbolic. A spider catches flies in its web, and that's exactly what Ukraine's

02:07drone is doing now with a UAV that is capable of launching what amounts to a fish net into

02:12the sky. That net wraps around a Russian drone, stifling its ability to fly before sending

02:18it crashing back down to the ground. It's a brilliant piece of kit. The Karakurt K2 is

02:23a net launcher, made using high-strength aluminum that is capable of operating in temperatures

02:27ranging from minus 20 degrees Celsius to 50 degrees Celsius. That pretty much covers the

02:33full gamut of temperatures that occur in Ukraine, making this an all-weather, all-year

02:37interception device. The launcher is light, weighing just 210 grams, so equipping it onto a

02:43windfly 10 Hunter isn't going to weigh the drone down to the point where it's unable

02:47to keep the pace with the Russian strike drone.

02:49Plus, the launcher connects using a USB-C port, so Ukraine doesn't have to worry about

02:54proprietary mechanisms or complicated repairs. USB-C ports and cables are incredibly easy

02:59to source, so a malfunction in that aspect will take very little time to repair. Future-proofing

03:05is a huge part of the Windfly Spider's brilliance, as you'll soon discover. But a little more

03:09about the net first. The Karakurt K2 can unleash its net over a distance of about 15 meters.

03:15The net then springs open at a distance of 3 to 5 meters from the target, engulfing said

03:20target in a 3x3 meter net that drags the strike drone down to the ground. So the Windfly Spider

03:26has to get up close and personal. But that was the whole point of Ukraine using the Windfly

03:3110 Hunter. Speed and range are its specialities, and the drone uses both to get within range of

03:37a Shahid before it fires the net. It all sounds insane, almost as though it couldn't possibly

03:42work in practice. But as bizarre as the whole idea may seem, working in practice is precisely

03:48what the Windfly Spider is capable of doing. And we don't have to take Ukraine's word

03:53for it. Footage of the Spider catching its prey is already making the rounds. Shared by

03:58Windfly on its YouTube channel, we see the after-effects of a net launch. A drone is trapped

04:03on the ground, tangled up in a net from which there is no escape. Okay, so that's the result,

04:08but what about how the drone got there? We soon see that as a Windfly Spider flies into

04:13the air en route to intercept a drone attempting to pass overhead. Within seconds, the net explodes

04:18out of Ukraine's drone. It wraps around the incoming UAV, sending it hurtling to the ground.

04:24Though clearly a demonstration of the drone's capabilities, this single video shows us two

04:28vital things. One, the concept behind the Windfly Spider, as strange as it may be,

04:34is sound. And two, it works very well. What we're seeing here isn't necessarily some

04:39one-off piece of technology that Ukraine's brilliant minds have created. Nets have long

04:44been a counter for drones, albeit not in the way that the Windfly Spider uses them.

04:48Only a few days before Ukraine unveiled its new interceptor, Business Insider reported that

04:53Russia was installing anti-drone nets at its Pacific submarine base,

04:57seemingly to prevent Ukraine's long-range drones from striking its subs.

05:01This is something that we've seen both sides do. Anti-drone netting is common on tanks,

05:06around military installations and in Ukrainian cities, precisely for the reason we saw in

05:11Windfly's video. If a drone hits a net, especially if it's a propeller-driven drone,

05:16then the net will take it down. Ukraine has taken that simple concept and run with it.

05:20We mean that in more ways than just adding net launchers to its interceptor drones.

05:24As Pravda reports, UAVs that can deploy nets are becoming as common on the front lines of Ukraine

05:29as they are soon to be in its layers of air defenses. In fact, two companies have already come up

05:35with

05:35net launchers that are installed on FPV drones, offering soldiers on the ground a new way to protect

05:39themselves against FPV drones unleashed by Russia. Back in March, Potashka Drones, which is a Ukrainian

05:45company, revealed that it's going to start exporting infantry net guns to Estonia. These guns are clever.

05:52They're basically pistols that fire a net instead of bullets, with the idea being they can tangle

05:57up an incoming drone before it reaches the soldier that it's chasing. With a firing range of up to 30

06:02meters, the gun can also ensure the drone it catches falls to the ground far enough away from

06:06a soldier to minimize the threat posed by explosions and shrapnel, should the captured drone detonate.

06:12Also in March, another Ukrainian company named Bluebird Tech unveiled its Chipper net launcher,

06:18which serves a similar purpose to the Potashka net gun. Again, a soldier points,

06:23fires and unleashes a net with a range of about 25 meters to take down an incoming FPV drone.

06:29And even better, neither of these systems relies on radio signals or frequency jamming,

06:34meaning they can t be disrupted, and they offer a more reliable mechanical method for taking down FPV drones.

06:41So this is clearly a concept that Ukraine's companies have been developing for a while.

06:45Only now it's being transplanted from guns used by infantry and into drones tasked with intercepting

06:51shahids. There's one more aspect of the Windfly Spider we want to cover before we move on. You may

06:57remember that we mentioned future-proofing when discussing the maintenance benefits of using USB-C

07:02ports and cables. That only scratches the surface. The other aspect of future-proofing,

07:07which is much more important, lies in the Windfly Spider's reusable nature. Ukraine has been using

07:13interceptor drones to take out Russian UAVs for a long time now. Those drones aren't expensive.

07:19They can cost as little as $1,000 per unit, Military Times reports. However, they all have the same

07:25problem. When an interceptor drone succeeds in striking its target, it's not just the Shahid that

07:30is taken out of commission. The interceptor goes with it. Not a problem when dealing with a handful of

07:35strike drones, sure. But this can become a major money sink when deploying kamikaze interceptors

07:40against hundreds of strike drones, leading to six-figure bills per attack for Ukraine.

07:45It's here where the genius of the Windfly Spider really comes into play. The drone doesn't destroy

07:51itself to take out a Shahid, which is advantage number one. But the real kicker is that the nets

07:56used by these drones are insanely cheap. How cheap? Just $27 each. The economics are on point with this drone

08:04in a

08:04way that they haven't been for any of the interception methods that Ukraine has come up with so far.

08:09Even low-cost interceptor drones, as effective as they are, can't compete with the Windfly Spider

08:13when it comes to pure cost efficiency. What Ukraine has here is a drone that can be used to take

08:19out a

08:19Shahid with a $27 net and then fly back to an operator to be reloaded with another net before it's

08:25sent

08:25back to take out another Shahid. At that price point, a Windfly Spider can take out around 37 Russian

08:31strike drones for the cost of even the cheapest of Ukraine's interceptor drones. This doesn't mean

08:36that interceptor drones are going the way of the dodo, of course. Rather, Ukraine now has a new type of

08:41interception method that it can use to take out propeller-based strike drones, leaving it free to

08:46invest more money into improving interceptors so they can destroy faster threats. And those threats

08:51are coming. But before we dig deeper, this is a reminder that you're watching the military show. If you

08:56haven't subscribed yet, now's the perfect time to hit the button and enable notifications so more of our

09:02videos show up in your feed. Like so many of Ukraine's ingenious developments, the Windfly Spider

09:08fills a niche, even if it does so in a way that nobody could have imagined before Ukraine came up

09:13with it. The emergence of this drone is perfectly timed because Russia has been relying heavily on its

09:19combined drone and missile assaults in 2026, especially as its forces fail to make real progress on the

09:24ground. We've seen consistent escalation in the Russian drone threat throughout the year.

09:29According to Ukraine's Ministry of Defense, Russia launched over 9,000 missiles and drones in July.

09:35That is a huge number, amounting to an average of about 290 per day. That's the scale of the

09:41challenge Ukraine faces, and it shows us why cutting costs is so important for interception.

09:46If we assume 290 drones in a day, all taken out by $1,000 interceptor drones,

09:52that's $290,000 spent. With the Windfly Spider, the same mass of drones would cost $7,830 to take

10:00out of the mission. It's an imperfect comparison, of course. Different varieties of Russian strike

10:05drones need different approaches, and the Windfly Spider isn't going to be able to deal with everything.

10:10Still, this comparison highlights just how much of a money saver Ukraine's new drone destroyer could

10:15prove to be. And the need for these sorts of savings becomes abundantly clear when taking recent

10:21intelligence from Ukraine into account. On August 12th, United24 media revealed that Russia has

10:27built up a reserve of around 6,200 Shahid drones, which means it's putting itself into a position

10:33where it could send between 600 and 1,000 drones into Ukraine in a single way.

10:38Again, the cost factor is important here. But on just a sheer number scale, Ukraine needs every option

10:44that it can get its hands on to deal with this scaling threat. And a drone that can take out

10:48multiple

10:48Shahids per Russian strike is as vital for its reusability as it is for its cost.

10:53A bright spot for Ukraine in all of this is that it's become exceptionally good at intercepting

10:59Russia's strike drones. In May, Ukraine achieved a 91.73% interception rate against Russia's UAVs.

11:05The percentage went down a little in June, reaching 90%, but that still means the vast majority of

11:10Russia's drones don't make it to their targets. That could lead you to question the wisdom of

11:14introducing a new technology to the field when Ukraine is already doing so well with interception

11:18using what it has. The Institute for Science and International Security, or ISIS, even points out

11:25that there are individual Russian strikes where Ukraine has intercepted up to 96% of Russia's

11:30gasoline-powered Shahid variants. The problem is that Russia has been paying attention to these

11:35interception rates, and it started to deploy jet-powered Shahid drones to evade Ukraine's

11:40interceptor drones. According to Reuters, as many as 20% of the strike drones that Russia now sends

11:45into Ukraine are jet-powered. This gives them a boost in speed that gasoline-powered drones don't

11:51have, allowing them to blow past the current generation of interceptor drones in Ukraine's arsenal.

11:56Russia has adapted, Ukraine needs to do the same. ISIS also highlights this, noting that the June decline

12:03in Ukraine's interception rate, along with a similar decline seen in July, suggests that Russia is

12:08fielding more of its jet-powered strike drones. We can't claim for certain that the Windfly Spider

12:13is capable of taking down this new generation of drones, but what it definitely offers to Ukraine is

12:18the ability to take out gasoline-powered variants in large numbers, which clears the way for Ukraine

12:23to upgrade its interceptor drone technology to handle the jet-powered Shahid. Ukraine is already

12:28doing just that. On August 10th, United24 media announced that the Litavar Plus drone has been

12:34unveiled by Ukrainian defense company F-Drones. Capable of exceeding speeds of 400 km per hour,

12:40it's fast enough to catch up to the jet-powered Shahids for interception. So we start to see the

12:45role the Windfly Spider can play in Ukraine's layered air defense strategy. It will slot into

12:50the niche that the past generation of interceptors filled, either replacing or complementing them,

12:54to deal with Russia's slower, gasoline-powered Shahid drones. That then frees up Ukraine to invest

12:59more heavily in faster interceptors due to the money it's saving using the Windfly Spider,

13:04so it can deal with Russia's new jet-powered drones. Ukraine has countered Russia's latest

13:09move almost as soon as Russia made it, leaving the Kremlin to go back to the drawing board to

13:14figure out how it could make its long-range strikes more effective. Ukraine always takes the approach

13:18that whatever it's doing well already could always be done better. The Windfly Spider is a

13:23manifestation of that philosophy. Ukraine's ability to counter Russia may be genius, but there's one

13:29final aspect of this new drone that is perhaps even more brilliant than anything we've covered so far.

13:34We get a hint of that brilliance in the FPV drone nets that we mentioned. Those nets are capable of

13:39stopping Russian FPVs without using any explosive countermeasures. In other words, drones are being

13:44captured whole rather than as debris, at least those that aren't capable of being detonated remotely.

13:50If the same applies to the Windfly Spider, and that seems to be the case based on the footage

13:55we've seen, this is huge for Ukraine. This new interceptor drone could hold the key to unlocking

14:00the technology that Russia builds into its strike drones. What explosives do they use? How are they

14:05made? What components are used, which is vital to know for sanctioning reasons? What other countermeasures

14:11could help against Russia's drones? These are all questions that Ukraine will be able to answer

14:15because it's just given itself a way to capture rather than destroy Russia's strike drones. And the brilliance

14:21doesn't end there. Once Ukraine has this information, it isn't limited to using it for its own purposes.

14:27This is all information that can be shared with Ukraine's allies. And Ukraine just so happens to

14:32have already created a mechanism that allows it to spread the information it finds around.

14:36On June 19th, Ukraine's former Defense Minister Mikhailo Fedorov unveiled a new database named Trophy Lab.

14:42That database offers users access to information about captured Russian technology. As Fedorov put it at the

14:49time. Through this secure platform, allied governments, labs, and defense tech manufacturers

14:53gain access to deep technical data, reports, and vulnerabilities. Users can also request physical

14:59equipment for testing, significantly shortening the development cycle for countermeasures.

15:04The Windfly Spider is perfectly positioned to make that database an even more attractive

15:09proposition to Ukraine's allies. With it, Ukraine can capture Russian strike drones whole,

15:14examine them, and even send them off to its allies for study. More information will come from this

15:19capability. In turn, Ukraine will further ingrain itself into the wider Western defense ecosystem

15:25than it already has. Ukraine's drone diplomacy has just experienced an upgrade. Before, that diplomacy

15:31was all about sharing its expertise and the drones that it has developed, enabling Ukraine to set up new

15:36defense contracts with countries all over the world. Everyone from most European nations to the Gulf

15:41states being threatened by the war in Iran wants access to that knowledge. With the Windfly Spider

15:47and Trophy Lab, Ukraine may just be able to provide far more knowledge than Russia ever expected its

15:52enemies to have. And there will be demand, especially in Europe. Russia has been getting a little too

15:57confident with its drone incursions into other nations. On August 11, a Russian drone found floating

16:03near Romania's largest natural gas project in the Black Sea had to be destroyed by army divers. That came on

16:10back of Romania already shooting down several Russian drones that entered its airspace. A

16:15new level of danger now exists in Europe, claims Germany's Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt when

16:21talking about drones. These threats are not the work of amateurs, rather they require very professional

16:26preparation and execution. We're dealing with possibly foreign powers, Dobrindt declared. That threat

16:32needs to be countered. Both the Windfly Spider itself and the new information that its ability to capture

16:37Russian drones like fish being plucked out of a barrel are extremely valuable to Ukraine's partners.

16:43And who knows, maybe Ukraine's nets could net it some more defense contracts.

16:48Sorry, we'll see ourselves out. But before we do, Ukraine coming up with new ways to counter

16:53Russia's long-range threat isn't the only problem that the Kremlin has to find a way to solve.

16:58Ukraine's own long-range drones are wreaking havoc on its territory,

17:02and nobody knows that better than the people involved with wild berries.

17:06Russia's dual-use logistics network is under major fire as Ukraine expands on a strategy designed to

17:12cripple the Russian economy. The strikes are getting bigger, the damage done is growing,

17:17and you can find out all about it by watching our video. But first, remember to subscribe to The

17:23Military Show so you don't miss any of our coverage of the best weapons that Ukraine develops in its battle

17:28against Russia and thank you for watching.

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