A high-speed drone takes off from a decommissioned Dutch air base on the North Sea. It passes through the clouds and intercepts a simulated target, detected by radar and verified using artificial intelligence.
The test was conducted by Intelic, a software company holding a €30 million contract with the Dutch Ministry of Defense to strengthen the country's air defenses.
The Amsterdam-based company now has an office in Kyiv and supports Ukrainian forces as they counter increasingly intense Russian drone and missile attacks.
Nexus links sensors and interceptors
During the late-September test, Nexus software used radar, sensors, and cameras from other companies to classify the target as a threat. A reconnaissance drone then confirmed its identity through image recognition.
The final decision to launch the AI-guided interceptor drone was made by a person. According to CEO and founder Maurits Korthals Altes, however, the process could be fully autonomous.
“Most of these systems use artificial intelligence onboard the drone to strike a target, for example another drone in flight, and intercept it at high speed,” he explained.
AI can also provide decision support to a commander in the field. In some cases, only a few seconds remain to determine whether to fire on an incoming jet-powered drone.
Integration between different systems should enable faster decisions. “At high speed, it is difficult to hit it manually, and a system with a higher degree of autonomy is needed,” Korthals Altes added.
The investment is part of increased Dutch spending. Since 2022, the Netherlands has allocated around €1.4 billion to Ukraine's drone program, according to data from the Kiel Institute.
A link between different systems
Since 2022, the Netherlands has provided Ukraine with more than €12.5 billion in military aid, including nearly one million drones, the Ministry of Defense reported.
According to the Kiel Institute, European aid for drones rose from €400 million in 2022 to €1.2 billion in 2025. In the first four months of 2026, it reached €1.6 billion.
Kyiv has called for increasing support from allies to strengthen its air defense. European companies, however, supply numerous types of drones that are not always able to communicate with one another.
“There are more than 700 drone manufacturers in Europe. To maintain our sovereignty, we need a system that serves as a link between the different solutions,” said Anika Kempter, a senior software engineer at Intelic.
Ukrainian brigades, Kempter noted, “may have different types of drones, made by different suppliers and equipped with different screens. Nexus solves the problem by allowing them all to be connected within a single system.”
During the trial, engineers worked from a mobile command post. For the first time, a single interface brought together radar detection, AI verification, and interceptor drones.
Each component could be selected and managed separately from the same control panel. Intelic's command-and-control system is being introduced on the Ukrainian battlefield.
The software complements the Delta system
In Ukraine, some operational decisions are still communicated through messaging apps or phone calls. Nexus integrates Delta, Ukraine's battlefield management system.
According to Kempter, replacing some human communications with autonomous systems could cut by minutes the time between detecting a drone and attempting to shoot it down. He said this could mean the difference between life and death.
Russia is now deploying jet-powered attack drones capable of flying at high altitude. In the first three weeks of September, it reportedly launched 2,100 of them, along with 136 missiles, against Ukraine.
The attacks killed 288 people, according to Prime Minister Sergii Koretskyi.
Drone technology is evolving rapidly, and air-defense equipment can become obsolete quickly, making upgrades necessary. According to Korthals Altes, Intelic's software can bridge this gap by adding new weapons systems to the platform.
«This is very important in an unpredictable environment,» he explained. «No one really knows what a war or a threat will look like in two years. We can form an idea, but we cannot be certain. That is why adaptability is essential.»
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