Ukraine’s Sunray laser burns drones out of the sky for a fraction of what Western systems cost

The U.S. Navy spent $150 million developing HELIOS, its shipboard laser defense system. Ukrainian engineers built one that fits in the trunk of a car for a few million dollars. That cost gap tells you everything about how this war is reshaping the defense industry.

A new report from The Atlantic, published today by staff writer Simon Shuster, reveals the existence of a previously unreported Ukrainian laser weapon called Sunray. The system was demonstrated for Shuster in a field test where it burned a small drone out of the sky within seconds. No noise, no visible beam, no Hollywood theatrics. Just a target that caught fire and fell.

Here is what you need to know:

• The weapon: Sunray is a compact laser air defense system built by Ukrainian engineers in roughly two years. It resembles a hobbyist’s telescope with cameras on the sides and mounts on a pickup truck.
• The cost: Developers expect to sell it for a few hundred thousand dollars, compared to the $150 million Lockheed Martin contract behind the U.S. Navy’s HELIOS system.
• The context: Sunray is part of Ukraine’s broader race to build a bootstrapped version of Israel’s Iron Dome, relying on domestic innovation because Western air defense deliveries remain insufficient.
• The source: The Atlantic, February 10, 2026.

Pavlo Yelizarov’s path from TV producer to air defense commander

Pavlo Yelizarov, the newly appointed commander of Ukraine’s air defense efforts and deputy head of the Ukrainian Air Force, is the person charged with turning these experimental systems into an operational shield. His background is anything but conventional. Like President Zelensky, Yelizarov spent much of his career in television, serving as lead producer of one of Ukraine’s most popular political talk shows.

When Russia invaded in 2022, he quit and started building combat drones with friends in his old TV studio, pooling personal savings to buy components. That improvised operation attracted U.S. government attention. Washington sent equipment and C-4 explosives to help develop his fleet. He took the call sign “Lazar” and founded what became Lasar’s Group, now part of the Ukrainian National Guard. Official estimates put their drone strikes at more than $13 billion in destroyed Russian military equipment.

Yelizarov was promoted to colonel in 2023. A few months ago, Russian drones destroyed his main production facility, incinerating about $35 million in equipment and weapons. He initially turned down the air defense job because the timeline seemed impossible. President Zelensky wants the shield operational by summer 2026.

New Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov convinced him. “He told me: ‘Look, we can spend a long time watching the football game and criticizing the players on the field. But I’m offering you a chance to get in the game and show what you can do,'” Yelizarov told The Atlantic.

Skyfall’s P1-Sun interceptor has already destroyed over 1,000 targets

Skyfall, a Ukrainian defense company founded in 2022 by an electrical engineer who goes unnamed for security reasons, is one of the companies producing the systems Yelizarov will have to organize. The company’s best-known product is the Vampire bomber drone, which proved so effective on the battlefield that Russian troops nicknamed it “Baba Yaga” after the Wicked Witch of Slavic folklore.

The report reveals that Skyfall’s P1-Sun interceptor has already been used to shoot down more than 1,000 airborne targets, including over 700 Shahed-type attack drones. The P1-Sun has a 3D-printed fuselage, four rotors, and carries about 500 grams of C-4. It costs roughly $1,000 per unit. Each unit that destroys a $35,000 Shahed saves Ukraine approximately $34,000 compared to even the cheapest interceptor alternative.

In December, during Putin’s annual call-in show, a war reporter from the Kremlin’s propaganda channel asked why Russia had failed to develop its own equivalent of the Baba Yaga after nearly four years of war. “We are completely lacking large hexacopters like the Baba Yaga, which the Ukrainian armed forces actively use,” the reporter said. Putin admitted the shortage and promised his defense ministry is working on it. For Skyfall’s team, The Atlantic reports, that exchange was validation.

The economics of drone defense remain brutal for Ukraine

The core problem Yelizarov faces is one of economics. Russia launches cheap Shahed-type drones that run on lawnmower engines. Ukraine has been forced to shoot them down with scarce, expensive foreign missiles. “Sure, you can use a Bentley to haul potatoes,” Yelizarov told The Atlantic. “But it’s probably not the smartest way to do that job.”

That cost mismatch has driven Ukraine’s interceptor drone revolution. Systems like Wild Hornets’ Sting and the military’s Octopus interceptor have shown that $2,500 drones can hunt $35,000 Shaheds at hit rates of 80-90%. The P1-Sun pushes that cost advantage even further at $1,000 per unit.

Laser systems like Sunray could eventually reduce per-shot costs to near zero, limited mainly by electricity. But they face real operational constraints. Weather, distance, and atmospheric conditions all affect laser performance. The system is still a prototype. No one is claiming it can replace missiles against cruise missiles or ballistic threats.

Ukraine’s defense industry now has 450 drone manufacturers

The Atlantic reports that approximately 450 companies now produce drones in Ukraine. President Zelensky told students at the Kyiv Aviation Institute last week that Ukraine’s drone sector is “the biggest industry for investors” in the country. He announced plans to open 10 “export centers” in Germany, the Baltic states, and elsewhere in Europe this year.

Skyfall has already presented its products at arms fairs in Riyadh and Abu Dhabi. The company’s founder expressed both pride and concern about the technology they have created. The P1-Sun costs about $1,000 and can reach altitudes above 30,000 feet. “Imagine if it hangs up there in the path of a civilian airliner. Nobody would even know who did it,” the founder told The Atlantic.

That quote captures the tension at the heart of Ukraine’s defense industry boom. The war has forced the country to mass-produce weapons that are cheap, effective, and nearly impossible to regulate once they leave Ukrainian hands. Defense Minister Fedorov has framed this as an export opportunity. “The anti-drone dome is not about the future. It’s about survival today,” Fedorov said.

DroneXL’s Take

I’ve been covering Ukraine’s drone defense evolution since the earliest days of the invasion. What strikes me about this Atlantic report isn’t the laser itself. Directed energy weapons have been in development for decades. What’s new is the cost. A few million dollars versus $150 million. A few hundred thousand per unit versus tens of millions. That’s not an incremental improvement. That’s a different category.

We covered the U.S. Navy’s HELIOS confirmation just two days ago. We’ve tracked the Apollo laser deal with NATO. And we’ve extensively followed Ukraine’s interceptor drone programs from Wild Hornets’ early Sting prototypes through the Octopus mass production announcement. The pattern is consistent: Ukraine is building a layered air defense system from scratch, and it’s doing it faster and cheaper than anyone in the Western defense establishment thought possible.

Yelizarov’s biggest challenge isn’t technology. It’s integration. He needs to organize dozens of competing systems from hundreds of manufacturers into a unified command structure that can decide in real time whether to fire a $1,000 interceptor drone, a laser, or a million-dollar missile at an incoming threat. That’s a software and doctrine problem more than a hardware one. I expect we’ll see the first operational version of this layered system by late summer 2026, but full coverage of Ukrainian cities is likely a 2027 story at the earliest.

The proliferation risk that Skyfall’s founder raised about the P1-Sun reaching 30,000 feet deserves attention. A $1,000 drone capable of flying at commercial aviation altitudes is a safety concern that regulators worldwide haven’t begun to address. That conversation is coming, and it won’t be comfortable for anyone in this industry.

Editorial Note: AI tools were used to assist with research and archive retrieval for this article. All reporting, analysis, and editorial perspectives are by Haye Kesteloo.