Ukrainian communications and electronic warfare expert Serhii "Flash" Beskrestnov has raised a rather strange topic on his social media. Beskrestnov says he's been receiving a lot of requests lately to explain the nature of unknown rays of green light from the sky. According to the description, they can be seen only at night, they move slowly but have been seen following vehicles or statically fixated in one area. All this happens in absolute silence.
As it turned out later, such rays were observed regularly in various places along the frontline. In just a few hours since the expert started this discussion, he received dozens of testimonies from soldiers who saw these lights.
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Among numerous assumptions in the comments to his posts, besides jokes about UFOs, an interesting suggestion was that it's none other than the lidar of the Chinese satellite DAQI 1. However, as transpired afterward, these green rays are of russian origin, and they pose a significant threat to Ukrainian forces.
The lights come from unmanned aerial vehicles, more precisely from a special new payload developed by russian drone maker ZALA. It's the Z-16IRQ-V/L night vision camera with an integrated laser rangefinder and a laser designator.
The company offers this device in addition to the Z-16 drone which is extensively used by the russian invasion forces in Ukraine. Possibly, this payload is also supported by other UAVs.
Laser designation is necessary for targeting smart ammunition with semi-active laser homing guidance. In the russian armed forces, these include the Krasnopol 152mm artillery projectiles, Kitolov-2 in versions 120mm and 122mm; and some air-launched missiles, e.g. the Kh-38MLÈ, and KAB-500L free-falling precision-guided bombs.
This kind of ammunition is in very limited use within the russian military, compared to NATO armies where illumination by a laser pointer is very common and remains the primary way of target designation. Nonetheless, the threat these new drones pose to Ukrainian forces should not be underestimated because each such strike has a very high chance of finding its target. Also, unlike satellite navigation, for example, this method also ignores any EW interference: the missile doesn't need to know where it is, just to steer towards the laser spot.
The fact these laser beams are visible in the novel russian device is obviously a drawback and an unmasking factor. Usually, a laser beam for target illumination is invisible in the optical spectrum as it operates in the infrared range and must also have the appropriate modulation. The answer as to why the russian designation laser became visible will likely only become known after one of such drones is downed and dissected.
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