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Citat:A Cambridge Aerospace Skyhammer interceptor was recovered after crashing onto a beach, providing a rare look at the company’s otherwise closely guarded design.
The drone was identified by users on Reddit after photos of the wreckage were posted online. The UK Coastguard initially took custody of the aircraft, before Cambridge Aerospace representatives reportedly collected it the following morning.
Skyhammer is described as a low-cost, radar-guided interceptor designed to counter Shahed-type one-way attack drones. The company states a range of more than 30 km (19 miles) and a top speed of up to 700 km/h (435 mph). The UK Ministry of Defence reportedly contracted Cambridge Aerospace in April to supply Skyhammer interceptors and launchers to British forces and Gulf partners, with deliveries beginning in May.
UAV engineer Chris Wheat later analyzed photographs of the recovered airframe, stressing that his technical conclusions were educated guesses based on publicly available imagery. He assessed the propulsion as likely using a JetCat P250-Pro turbine producing around 25 kgf of thrust, with an estimated 2–3 liters of fuel potentially providing roughly five to nine minutes of flight time.
The airframe is reportedly around 1.5 meters (4.9 feet) long with a similar wingspan and a diameter of approximately 0.2 meters (8 inches). Wheat said the structure appears to use aluminum box-section spars with a 3D-printed outer shell. The fixed wings also suggest that this particular aircraft may have been rail-launched rather than using the tube-launched, folding-wing configuration previously shown by Cambridge Aerospace.
Wheat also noted that the wreckage did not appear to contain obvious hardware for the active X-band radar seeker publicly associated with Skyhammer. He suggested the seeker may not have been installed on this particular airframe or could still be under development.
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