Aircraft blows and not only: how to protect yourself from reconnaissance UAVs of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation
The focus talked with the military to understand what to oppose the Russian "scanders" with "eagles". For several days, Russian troops struck the Dnieper, Mirgorod and Poltava. The goals were either Ukrainian aviation or other objects in the rear. All these attacks combine the presence of a reconnaissance drone of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, which flies over the target for hours, as well as a blow to the ballistic missiles "Iscander".
In some cases, the strikes came to the layouts, which was reported in the air forces. Such types of targets can only be knocked down by Western systems by Patriot or SAMP/T. Ukraine has insufficient number of such anti-aircraft missile complexes, so it is necessary to fight first and foremost with drones. The focus talked on the conditions of anonymity with the military, which serves as part of the mobile fire group (MVG) in one of the directions.
He told us that they knew about the enemy target thanks to a special software tablet. It displays the MVG position and which objects are in the sky. Thanks to this, you can navigate where you need to go to damage the enemy goal. For him, the strikes of the airfields became an unexpected event in view of the fixation of the drone on the map. Everyone who has access to the software tablet would be visible in the airfield area.
He had to be seen and reacted, but he cannot know who is responsible for defense in specific places and what the tools are. The problem of Russian drones in the rear cities of Ukraine is not new. The focus in April covered the topic of how the Armed Forces were beaten by the front line. Experts explained to us that Russian drones are getting better. Therefore, in the area of 100 km on the border with the Russian Federation or with temporarily occupied territories are at risk.
The enemy UAV learned to fly without GPS signal on pre -loaded routes, and then transmit a video from the operator camera directly. Thus, the Ukrainian military has less time to reaction and drone detection. Ukraine needs more means of defeat and detection to increase the "dome" that will protect against blows. A comprehensive problem needs a multilevel solution: the latter, Ukraine demonstrates ingenuity. The FPV drones were adapted for the remote blasting of the combat unit.
This allows you to destroy Russian reconnaissance drones without physical contact, which is difficult to do in the open sky. Therefore, FPV is blown at a close distance to an enemy target with a cloud of debris. Also, Ukrainian engineers creatively approached the detection of drones by Shahaned. According to General James Hecker, the US Air Force Commander in Europe and Africa, 6,000 microphones were installed in Ukraine that "listen" online sound.
The system was taught to distinguish the sound of "shahas" from others, so this allows you to detect the enemy before. "Think, if you have a number of sensors, imagine a mobile phone, with power so that it does not discharge, so? And then you put a microphone to make the acoustics of unilateral UAVs that fly over your head. There are… 6,000 such devices across the country. In Odessa, a plane of the Jaco-52 against enemy drones is used to combat drones, which can also be a partial solution.
Experts call the optimal aircraft for such purposes Super Tucano from Embraer. In 2019, Ukraine planned to buy light turboprices for replacement of L-39 and Soviet fighters. However, as of June 2023, the EBRAER declared the lack of interest of Ukraine in the purchase of aircraft.