FFF 2026 – Aero set to launch L-39NG Drone Hunter

Aero Vodochody believe its L-39NG can be the ultimate Drone Hunter as the company’s Ondrej Koukol explained at the Future Air Force conference in Prague, on October 22

The last step of qualifying the L-39 Drone Hunter concept was completed in early October when Aero’s two prototype L-39NGs deployed to Hungary for the final phase of weapons integration. The tests focussed on the impact of rocket firings on the aircraft and engine under various conditions. Rockets were fired in a firing range, and according to Aero it all went well.

Two types of 70mm laser guided rockets are being offered to shoot down enemy drones, the Thales FZ275 and the BAE Systyems Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System (APKWS). Both can be fired from the same rocket launcher.

Koukol explained, “We have two hard points under the wings, each with a launcher that can fire seven rockets. In the future version however there could be four rocket launchers that can fire 28 rockets. You could combine this with the onboard 12.7mm machine gun and an EO/IR pod under the aircraft.”

Ondrej Koukol told the audience that the operational cost of the Drone Hunter in this configuration would be less than 2,000 euros per hour. This was calculated, he explained, by including scheduled and unscheduled maintenance and all the mandatory maintenance of the Williams FJ-44 engine, the Martin Baker Mk CZ16H ejection seat, but not fuel or the human cost.

There has always been some question on how the Drone Hunter would fit into the kill chain process, particularly with no radar on board.

Koukol continued: “We can detect the threats through the sensor networks and the AWACS. There is data-sharing satellite images concentrated in one place and shared across the battlefield management.

“In Skyfox, we have three ways to get that information on board. We have the line of sight data-link from the ground up to 80 nautical miles away so you can be advised of the location from the ground. We have the SATCOM on board that can work with the Starlink and Starshield systems that are used in the Ukraine. Then there is of course, the more traditional Link 16 or any other kind of military data-link.

“At the beginning we were regularly questioned about not having a radar on board. But having a radar on such a low-cost platform doesn’t make financial sense. Particularly when these very fast drones that we will be chasing have such a small radar cross section. But what made us stop looking at radar options was the feedback we gained from the Ukraine battlefield, where it’s a highly contested electronic warfare environment. They told us ‘when you switch on the radar you are dead in 30 seconds – you are shining like a Christmas tree, visible for everyone!’

“So that is when we started to basically link the design to electro-optical equipment [like the Sinab Phoenix pod] which is also equipped with the multi-spectral sensors as well as a laser designator. So we are going to install a so-called mission kit – an electro optical pod video laser designator for the laser guided rockets.”

Ondrej Koukol concluded, “This will help with intercept the high-speed and high-altitude drones like the Geran 4 and 5 from Russia and whatever is coming up next.

“All we have to do is complete all the paperwork for the Drone Hunter and we expect it to be on the market in the first half or third quarter of 2027.”

Photo courtesy Aero Vodochody