Ukraine Turns To AI-Controlled Guns To Stop Russian Shahed Drones

Forbes

2 days ago

Russia's drone bombardment of Ukraine has escalated remorselessly, with successive nightly attacks breaking records for the number of Shaheds fired. So far, the defenders have contained the worst of the onslaught, but the defense is under increasing strain. Now UNITED24, an official fundraising platform set up by President Zelensky, is raising funds for automated turrets to shoot down the attacking drones.
The radar-guided weapons function without human intervention, and the plan is to raise $1,500,000 for 10 turrets, enough to provide defensive coverage for a small city. These Sky Sentinels should stop drones and save lives.
On the night of 26th May the Ukrainian Air Force reported 355 incoming drones – almost as many as they were launching in a whole month in 2024.
The Shahed, built in Russian to an Iranian design, is a simple, low-cost drone. Russia produces them in increasing numbers and bombards Ukrainian cities in an attempt to break the people's will to fight. While earlier Shaheds were equipped with warheads optimized to damage infrastructure such as electrical substations, more recent models are armed with shrapnel warheads and cluster munitions in a deliberate attempt to maximize civilian casualties.
While previously Ukraine was shooting down something over 95% of the incoming drones, last month the rate dropped to 84%. Coupled with the increase in the total number of drones, this means we are seeing far more apartment blocks hit by the drones.
Ukrainian sources suggest that the increased proportion getting through is due to the drones being used in higher concentrations against smaller areas and flying at higher altitude than before. This week one was tracked flying at 4,300 meters – over 14,000 feet.
While some Shaheds are brought down by surface-to-air missiles, or intercepted by jets, nobody including Ukraine has anything like enough missiles to stop hundreds of drones every night. The U.S. only produces about 650 Patriot missiles a year, which would be exhausted in a few days. Interceptor drones look promising but are not yet in large-scale use.
A large proportion of Shaheds are brought down by mobile defense units, equipped with automatic cannons or heavy machine guns and thermal imagers, and networked to the air defense system. They are highly effective but have the same limitations as other humans.
The Sky Sentinel defense system mounted on a mobile trailer provides the same sort of capability but with the added power of AI. It never needs rest, never gets tired, and reacts instantly and precisely to incoming threats at any tinme day or night.
Sky Sentinel uses a standard heavy machine gun, linked to a radar able to spot small targets. 360-degree rotation means it can cope with attacks coming from any direction. And while human gunners struggle to hit fast-moving targets, Sky Sentinel can reportedly hit drones moving at 500 miles an hour, and it has no trouble with the 120 mph Shaheds.
The AI system controlling was developed entirely in Ukraine. It copes with multiple variables including wind speed and direction, and can pick out drones from other flying objects such as birds. Hitting an aerial target with bullets requires extreme precision, and according to the makers, this has been one of the biggest challenges.
'One of the biggest engineering hurdles for this kind of weapon is something called 'play'—mechanical slack,' an engineer told UNITED24.
They noted that a fraction of an inch of tolerance in the mechanism could result in bullets missing the target by yards. So Sky Sentinel had to be built with effectively zero mechanical play, even after recoil. The pointing accuracy is claimed to be just 17 micro-radians – less than a tenth of an inch at 1,000 yards – far less than inaccuracies caused by other variables.
Sky Sentinel ammunition feed
Mykyta Shandyba
'We're solving dozens of micro-challenges so that everything works as a single seamless system,' states the engineer. 'No mechanical slack, no software delays, flawless optics, and precision firing. It all has to work in perfect sync.'
A prototype Sky Sentinel system is already in operation and has reportedly downed four Shaheds.
Sky Sentinels will form the inner layer of a defensive system, with interceptor drones, missiles and other weapons forming the outer layers.
Sky Sentinel could be seen as a low-cost version of the computer-controlled, radar-guided Phalanx CIWS system carried by U.S. warships, with its six-barreled 20mm cannon firing 75 rounds a second to bring down cruise missiles. The U.S fielded a ground-based version of this, known as Centurion C-RAM ('Counter Radar, Artillery and Mortars') to defend based in Iraq. The key phrase here is 'low cost' – Centurion costs $10-$15m per unit depending on the configuration. A single two-second burst of fire from the Phalanx costs around $7,000, and it may take several to down a target.
Sky Sentinel is only designed to bring down drones, not rockets and artillery shells. But at about a hundredth the cost of earlier systems, the Sky Sentinel is an affordable system which meets Ukraine's needs.
The big challenge is likely to be scaling up production. Producing a mechanically perfect prototype is one thing, achieving the same precision in mass produced system is something else, thought the developers say it is 'absolutely doable.'
Sky Sentinel is only part of a solution to Russian drone attacks. Int he longer term, Ukraine needs to target Russian drone production, storage and launch facilities to end the threat. But the automated turrets will minimise the effects of the dronbe asssault and save lives.
UNITED24 has already raised funds for the first Sky Sentinel and are seeking nine more – donations can be made here.