WARSAW, Poland — Polish-Ukrainian anti-drone radar company Molfar Defence said it is developing a new generation of tactical radar systems for drone types that have doggedly managed to penetrate Ukrainian defenses.
The technology aims to find small, low-altitude drones, including those connected to operators via long command wires, a setup that makes them immune to defensive electronic warfare.
Maks Dzherikhov, the co-founder of Molfar Defence, told Defense News the company is working on solutions to complement the existing air-defense infrastructure, which is increasingly struggling to identify smaller and slower-moving airborne threats.
“We see how quickly drone production is scaling up globally, and how fast autonomous radio protocols and capabilities are growing. Also, we see that large and expensive radar systems can be destroyed, and the recent situation in the Gulf region shows that high-value radar infrastructure can be targeted and damaged very easily. When this happens, you create blind spots,” Dzherikhov said. “At Molfar, our main focus is on the detection of low-flying UAVs, especially multi-rotor drones in difficult conditions.”
Incursions by Russian drones into NATO airspace, paired with Russia’s tactic of using GPS spoofing to steer Ukrainian strike drones off course and drive them into allied territory, are pushing eastern flank states to intensify investments into counter-drone measures.
At recent tests held in Latvia’s Sēlija, which hosts NATO’s new unmanned systems testing range, European startups were able to successfully take down numerous drones. However, every failed attempt served as a reminder of the challenges that companies face in adapting their solutions to evolving battlefield threats.
Molfar’s radars use advanced signal processing and multidimensional structural target representation to distinguish drones from other airborne objects, and are capable of operating in complex environments and adverse weather conditions, according to the company’s co-founder.
“Fiber-optic drones, and in general drones using transmission, are developing very fast. Such drones are difficult to detect because they fly very low, close to the ground. They’re very small, and for many radars detecting them is a huge challenge,” he said. “In the past, radar systems were developed to detect really big and very fast-moving targets.”
To finance its development work, the Polish-Ukrainian company recently secured a new investor, Sweden’s Front Ventures, which led a €2 million ($2.3 million) funding round with its €1.5 million investment.
The company’s head office is in Poland’s capital Warsaw, and Molfar Defence is currently opening a Ukrainian branch that will cooperate with Ukraine’s military to adapt its radar systems to combat conditions. Under the plan, mass production is scheduled to begin in late 2027, according to Dzherikhov.
Jaroslaw Adamowski is the Poland correspondent for Defense News.