I got to thinking, what could be the best existing aircraft type for converting and developing drone hunting drones? Than I realized the perfect aircraft for that role would be a dirt-cheap and very light STOL taildragger aircraft.
1.) These ultra-light, STOL taildragging aircraft are dirt cheap and incredibly versatile. They're capable of operating in severe headwinds and severe arctic climates, they can take off and land virtually anywhere. Some pilots even managed to land and take off from sides of mountains. There STOL are nothing short of incredible, to the point where they rival VTOL aircraft.
They've been demonstrated to reliable land within a dozen meters, and takeoff within a couple meters. Their incredible STOL capability, their capability to take off and land on unprepared airstrips, and just about any surface in any climate, their light weight mass combined with dirt-cheap prices means they're great candidates to be incorporated in to VKS IAD SAM regiments. They can go anywhere their all terrain vehicles can go, and they're dirt cheap.
https://air.one/aircraft-showroom/just-aircraft-superstol-xl/
In fact, to further extrapolate how dirt-cheap these taildragging planes can possibly be, The Just Air Just STOL XL kit only costs $72 thousand USD. A similar Russia built kit would probably cost approx. $1,000 USD a piece. With all the bells and whistles (UCAV add-ons) would make it approximately $5,000 USD a piece. Not bad for something that can easily destroy several $10 million IAI Harop drones!
2.) The performance of such aircraft could be improved by utilizing electric motors/engines. These types of aircraft can get up to 1000km range (with a low power diesel piston engine), and a SuperOx electric engine while being lighter than a conventional diesel piston-engine aircraft, could probably quadruple the range to 4,000km which would allow to loiter all day to intercept UAV's/UCAV's. The development of graphene batteries could further improve the range. Coaxial blades could even further improve performance.
3.) The wings should be designed to fold back like a naval deck helicopter, and the aircraft could be stored in a shipping container, with disposable manpad tubes, batteries, parts and spares and repair equipment all stored in a standard shipping container. It'll be transported on a Kamaz truck (like Pantsir), with a crew of three at the helm: driver, airplane mechanic, and drone pilot. The shipping container could have a ramp and dolly system to guide the drone crane cargo taildragger out safely in a compressed state (It should have a variable pneumatic suspension). They could have 4 of these aircraft, capable of covering 4 different directions per company/battery level of SAM groupings. They would be controlled and given guidance and targeting information by command posts within the company/battery grouping of SAMs.
4.) The landing gear and build should be similar to a crane cargo helicopter the difference being that the landing gear is attached to the wing, as it would be a 'Monoplane' (or perhaps a variable biplane). The crew cabin would be absent. The landing gear could be further improved if the rear wheel was actually two wheels compressed together while taking off, but would have an extending telescope pole in between them that widen before the end of the flight, for greater landing stability.

The modular cargo compartment would have disposable tubes of Verba manpads, and no need for rotary launcher, the tubes would be stacked on top of each other. The modular compartment would have 4 stacks of 5 stacked tubes, with 20 tubes total in the modular compartment, with arm that extend out the compartment that would launch the manpad missiles. The mass of Verba is usually given as 17.25kg, but that's the weight of the entire manpad, not necessarily of the missile. The missile is probably half that at 8.5kg. A modern light STOL taildragger UCAV aircraft with similar specifications to the Just Aircraft's Superstol XL, would have a useful payload of 1000lbs/455kg, so 20 9K333 Verba missiles weighing 8.5 kg in disposable tubes wouldn't even surpass the 50% useful payload mark. The '20' 8.5kg tubes would way 170kg, the weapons container would way 30kg, with max container weighing 200kg. They could slave a PKT gun with 1000 rounds to EO ball on the top of the aircraft, or alternatively Kord machinegun with 200 rounds. Only then will the payload start meeting 50% of the max payload.

https://justaircraft.com/specifications/
The radar and EO ball would be stored on top of the plane. The electric motor/batteries would power them, and the ultraviolet, near-infrared, mid-infrared portion could be cooled using magnetic refrigeration powered by the electric motor (or the cold air while in mid-flight if that's more practical).
5.) As already mentioned it should have a multi-purpose pneumatic suspension, which could be used to inflate the tires, which should be inflated for various variable sizes (for snow or landing on water), and for the the landing gear, and optionally (if they make a biplane model) to raise an additional compressed wing on top to make the monoplane in to a biplane for potentially better performance.
6.) These aircraft could be also useful in civilian rescue and emergency situations, with the ability to drop off critical supplies.
1.) These ultra-light, STOL taildragging aircraft are dirt cheap and incredibly versatile. They're capable of operating in severe headwinds and severe arctic climates, they can take off and land virtually anywhere. Some pilots even managed to land and take off from sides of mountains. There STOL are nothing short of incredible, to the point where they rival VTOL aircraft.
They've been demonstrated to reliable land within a dozen meters, and takeoff within a couple meters. Their incredible STOL capability, their capability to take off and land on unprepared airstrips, and just about any surface in any climate, their light weight mass combined with dirt-cheap prices means they're great candidates to be incorporated in to VKS IAD SAM regiments. They can go anywhere their all terrain vehicles can go, and they're dirt cheap.
https://air.one/aircraft-showroom/just-aircraft-superstol-xl/
In fact, to further extrapolate how dirt-cheap these taildragging planes can possibly be, The Just Air Just STOL XL kit only costs $72 thousand USD. A similar Russia built kit would probably cost approx. $1,000 USD a piece. With all the bells and whistles (UCAV add-ons) would make it approximately $5,000 USD a piece. Not bad for something that can easily destroy several $10 million IAI Harop drones!

2.) The performance of such aircraft could be improved by utilizing electric motors/engines. These types of aircraft can get up to 1000km range (with a low power diesel piston engine), and a SuperOx electric engine while being lighter than a conventional diesel piston-engine aircraft, could probably quadruple the range to 4,000km which would allow to loiter all day to intercept UAV's/UCAV's. The development of graphene batteries could further improve the range. Coaxial blades could even further improve performance.
3.) The wings should be designed to fold back like a naval deck helicopter, and the aircraft could be stored in a shipping container, with disposable manpad tubes, batteries, parts and spares and repair equipment all stored in a standard shipping container. It'll be transported on a Kamaz truck (like Pantsir), with a crew of three at the helm: driver, airplane mechanic, and drone pilot. The shipping container could have a ramp and dolly system to guide the drone crane cargo taildragger out safely in a compressed state (It should have a variable pneumatic suspension). They could have 4 of these aircraft, capable of covering 4 different directions per company/battery level of SAM groupings. They would be controlled and given guidance and targeting information by command posts within the company/battery grouping of SAMs.
4.) The landing gear and build should be similar to a crane cargo helicopter the difference being that the landing gear is attached to the wing, as it would be a 'Monoplane' (or perhaps a variable biplane). The crew cabin would be absent. The landing gear could be further improved if the rear wheel was actually two wheels compressed together while taking off, but would have an extending telescope pole in between them that widen before the end of the flight, for greater landing stability.

The modular cargo compartment would have disposable tubes of Verba manpads, and no need for rotary launcher, the tubes would be stacked on top of each other. The modular compartment would have 4 stacks of 5 stacked tubes, with 20 tubes total in the modular compartment, with arm that extend out the compartment that would launch the manpad missiles. The mass of Verba is usually given as 17.25kg, but that's the weight of the entire manpad, not necessarily of the missile. The missile is probably half that at 8.5kg. A modern light STOL taildragger UCAV aircraft with similar specifications to the Just Aircraft's Superstol XL, would have a useful payload of 1000lbs/455kg, so 20 9K333 Verba missiles weighing 8.5 kg in disposable tubes wouldn't even surpass the 50% useful payload mark. The '20' 8.5kg tubes would way 170kg, the weapons container would way 30kg, with max container weighing 200kg. They could slave a PKT gun with 1000 rounds to EO ball on the top of the aircraft, or alternatively Kord machinegun with 200 rounds. Only then will the payload start meeting 50% of the max payload.

https://justaircraft.com/specifications/
The radar and EO ball would be stored on top of the plane. The electric motor/batteries would power them, and the ultraviolet, near-infrared, mid-infrared portion could be cooled using magnetic refrigeration powered by the electric motor (or the cold air while in mid-flight if that's more practical).
5.) As already mentioned it should have a multi-purpose pneumatic suspension, which could be used to inflate the tires, which should be inflated for various variable sizes (for snow or landing on water), and for the the landing gear, and optionally (if they make a biplane model) to raise an additional compressed wing on top to make the monoplane in to a biplane for potentially better performance.
6.) These aircraft could be also useful in civilian rescue and emergency situations, with the ability to drop off critical supplies.