Fishing for drones: a Ukrainian box that fires nets at FPVs heads for serial production

Ukraine’s Phantom Defense is preparing its Mangal system for serial production, Militarnyi reported on 5 November. Mangal fires nets at Russian FPV drones as they close in on a vehicle.

Amid Russia's invasion, FPV drones, explosive craft flown by camera, hunt Ukrainian vehicles within 15 to 30 kilometers of the front. This year, Ukraine has covered more than 1,640 kilometers of frontline roads with anti-drone protection, the Defense Ministry said on 3 November. But road cover does not travel with the truck. Mangal puts the launchers on the vehicle.

From IT Arena debut to production line

When Phantom Defense first showed Mangal in late September, it said production units could reach the market within a few months, Dev.ua reported . In October, the company bought the developer of the Karakurt net launchers, it told Ukrainska Pravda.

Militarnyi saw the system at a test range. Each camera-equipped block covers 90 degrees, so full cover takes several. The developer claims it detects a drone at 40 meters against trees, and that the range can exceed 60 meters against the sky.

Militarnyi cited an estimate of $44 per shot, including a 6-by-6-meter net. The developer claims at least 12 hours of runtime and said it was designed to work alongside electronic warfare.

The company sees it as a second line: if jamming fails to stop a drone, including one guided by fiber-optic cable, the launcher is meant to fire at close range, Militarnyi wrote.

Mangal grew out of Karakurt launchers first used on drones. The 100th Separate Mechanized Brigade first put a net launcher on a ground robot, and early operator-fired systems have been at the front since March 2026, the developer said. Mangal has been tested on a Stryker, other armored vehicles, pickups, ground robots, and boats.

Combat trials and Mangal 2.0

Ten systems have gone to Ukrainian Armed Forces units for combat trials, a company representative told Militarnyi. According to the company, they have repelled two FPV attacks. The company is also developing Mangal 2.0 based on soldiers’ feedback.

If trials bear out the maker’s figures, nets could back up the jammers on vehicles like the MAC OWL, codified in June with room for up to 10 electronic-warfare modules.

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