The enemy has started equipping its reconnaissance drones with electronic warfare systems to protect them from Ukrainian anti-aircraft drones. The russians themselves described this possible course of action just a month ago in their discussions on countering the new threat.
Serhii Beskrestnov Flash, a specialist, reported cases of russians using such systems. He also described how the relatively small device works. It consists of a scanner that detects the video signal from an anti-aircraft drone and is programmed to activate jamming on that frequency when the interceptor approaches.
Read more: russian Anti-Aircraft FPV Drone's First Known Attack Fails: Furia UAS Survives (Video)
The entire EW system is designed solely to suppress the video feed, not the control, and it activates for 60 seconds, though it can be triggered repeatedly.
Although the post does not specify how to counter such interference, it includes photos of the EW module. This directly indicates that it was taken from a downed UAV and examined.
It should be noted that an EW device capable of jamming the video channel, rather than the control channel, is not new. The enemy's arsenal includes such devices, one type of which has been named Shtora due to the distinctive interference pattern. Additionally, in russia, they have boasted about systems that simply insert their own video into the image transmission channel.
Thanks to reports from volunteer groups like the Sternenko Community, it is clear that such electronic warfare devices on russian UAVs are not yet widespread. Videos showing the destruction of enemy reconnaissance drones are regularly posted.
Ще 17 збитих російських розвідБПЛА нашими воїнами з підрозділу Ластівка екіпажу Самосуд 11 бригади Національної гвардії. Більша частина цих безпілотників летіли на Сумщину, щоб навести ракету/ланцет, але з вашою допомогою загрозу було завчасно нейтралізовано. pic.twitter.com/c7QttUcjJT— Serhii Sternenko ✙ (@sternenko) October 11, 2024
In any case, this is just another round in the battle of solutions and technologies. In this situation, Ukraine is one step ahead, as Ukrainian specialists are already analyzing the russian solution that the enemy has not yet widely implemented.
Ultimately, there always remains the option of equipping anti-aircraft systems with automatic targeting systems (the so-called machine vision), which can completely negate any electronic countermeasures. This system is particularly justified on anti-drone platforms due to the high cost of the target. According to available information, such a UAV, like the Orlan-10, costs at least $100,000.
Read more: Anti-Aircraft FPV Drones Have Potential Greater Than Traditional Air Defense Missiles
