Direct proof of use
A Finnish National Defence University survey of Ukrainian Armed Forces counter-UAS systems for 2022-2024 lists Piranha Tech DF-1 among Ukraine's vehicle-mounted electronic-warfare C-UAS systems. The listing places DF-1 in Ukrainian service during the full-scale phase of the 2014 Russia-Ukraine War rather than only in manufacturer literature.
The available public evidence supports fielding as a counter-UAS electronic-warfare system, but it does not identify a specific unit, location, engagement, or claimed drone defeat for DF-1.
Sources: Ukrainian Armed Forces C-UAS Survey
Timeline
The Ukrainian Armed Forces survey covers the 2022-2024 period and includes DF-1 in its catalog of Ukrainian C-UAS systems. Piranha Tech then published an official DF-1 product page on November 11, 2024, describing the system as a mobile countermeasure for unauthorized UAVs and civilian drones.
In October 2025, Defender Media reported a DF-1 modernization with a wider frequency range, higher output power, and automatic activation when a Mavic-class drone with a digital or analog video link enters range. That report helps explain the later product configuration but is not itself an incident record.
Sources: Ukrainian Armed Forces C-UAS Survey, DF-1 Product Page, Defender Media DF-1 Upgrade
Narrative
DF-1's documented role in the war is force protection against small unmanned aircraft. Piranha Tech describes DF-1 as a mobile dome-protection electronic-warfare complex that can be installed on vehicles, trailers, building roofs, or tripods. The product page lists a 400-5900 MHz operating range, 100 W maximum output power, one simultaneous channel, vertical or circular antenna polarization, and IP55 protection.
The system is meant to degrade drone control, video, geopositioning, and telemetry links rather than physically intercept drones. Defender Media's later upgrade report described DF-1 as an omnidirectional complex for protecting sites from Mavic, Autel, and similar small UAVs, with a suppression dome against control and data-transmission signals.
The source record therefore supports Ukrainian fielding of DF-1 as a counter-UAS electronic-warfare and force-protection system, while leaving individual battlefield outcomes unattributed.
Sources: Ukrainian Armed Forces C-UAS Survey, DF-1 Product Page, Defender Media DF-1 Upgrade
