Bird of Prey: the Airbus answer to one-way attack drones

One-way attack drones are rewriting the rules of engagement by pitting low-cost threats against expensive air defences. Is there a way to balance the scales? Let us introduce you to Airbus’ Bird of Prey.  

With their simple construction, off-the-shelf electronics and piston engines, one-way attack drones are a staple of the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East. Dubbed 'flying mopeds' by Ukrainians, 5,749 Russian attacks with Geran-type drones (including decoys) were registered in June 2026 –  192 per day. These drones overwhelm air defences and challenge long-held beliefs about the nature of warfare.

In theory, the equation should be simple: whoever has the most sophisticated technology will prevail. However, one-way attack drones show that the current maths of air defence simply doesn't add up. While the threats cost barely tens of thousands of euros, the interceptors used to bring them down can cost millions.

This discrepancy highlights the need for effective, cost-efficient countermeasures. Scalable solutions are required. Solutions that are integrated into a functional command and control (C2) architecture and capable of keeping up with the evolution of the threat as new drones with higher speeds and increasingly complex flight trajectories appear. 

Bird of Prey Demo flight

Bird of Prey can autonomously engage threats over large distances. 

Bird of Prey: the drone hunter

At Airbus Defence and Space, we are working on a practical answer for this threat: the Bird of Prey. It is more than just another uncrewed aerial system; based on the Airbus Do-DT25 airframe, this target drone is evolving into a veritable drone hunter. 

After being launched from a catapult, Bird of Prey will be able to engage enemy threats over long distances. Depending on the mission requirements, it will carry effectors of different sizes and with different performance profiles. Furthermore, the platform is going to be reusable. These factors will make the Bird of Prey highly flexible and ultimately help to keep the cost per engagement low  — precisely what is required in the fight against one-way attack drones.

Bird of Prey will operate through the Airbus Integrated Battle Management System (IBMS), which allows for seamless integration into NATO’s air defence architecture. Built entirely on European technology, the solution is free of any American International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), making it fully sovereign.

Bird of Prey demo flight

In March 2026, the Bird of Prey successfully completed a demonstration flight, engaging a one-way attack drone with a Frankenburg missile.

From concept to combat ready

In just nine months, Bird of Prey has progressed from an idea to a demonstration flight, which took place at the end of March 2026 in a military training area in northern Germany. In a realistic mission scenario, it searched for, detected and classified a medium-sized one-way attack drone before engaging it with a Mark I missile from the defence start-up Frankenburg Technologies. 

The engagement process is autonomous. From identifying the threat to destroying it, the system takes care of most of the heavy lifting. Still, the human operator stays involved. After identifying the threat, the system prompts a request for engagement. Once the operator grants permission (or, depending on the chosen setup, does not intervene), Bird of Prey proceeds to neutralise the threat. It is this synergy between an autonomous system and human oversight that enables rapid decision-making to counter the threat of one-way attack drones.

Airbus is already planning additional live trials throughout 2026 to further operationalise the system for global customers. As the 'drone wars' intensify, Bird of Prey offers more than just a new weapon system, it offers a means of winning the war of attrition.