Latest news with #Zhluktenko
Yahoo
23-04-2025
- Yahoo
Ukrainian drone pilots often use 'weird-looking buildings' as guides to fly their drones through heavy Russian GPS jamming
Jamming in Ukraine means that drone operators often can't rely on GPS. Operators told BI that means they don't always know where their drones are. They have to look for standout landmarks instead, something that's hard in the uniform landscape. Ukrainian drone operators flying their uncrewed aircraft against the threat of Russian jamming are often unsure where their drones actually are, meaning they have to use other guideposts to find their way, an operator told Business Insider. Directional landmarks can include "weird-looking buildings" or intersections. Operators use these when they can't use GPS to locate themselves and can't be sure exactly where their drones are over fields and treelines that look similar, Dimko Zhluktenko, a drone operator with Ukraine's Unmanned Systems Forces, told BI. Drones warfare is a major part of Russia's war against Ukraine, and both sides are rapidly creating and developing new types of drones and counter-drone technology. The countermeasures include electronic warfare like jamming, which can target connections between the drone and its operator or the aircraft's GPS navigation system. GPS, a satellite-based navigation system, is used in munitions, drones, and civilian technology like digital maps. It plays an essential function in military systems and civilian society, but military leaders are increasingly coming to terms with the reality that modern battlefields may be GPS-denied environments. Weapons that rely on GPS, including sophisticated US weapons, have run into problems on Ukrainian battlefields. "At the front line, there is literally no GPS," Zhluktenko said. "So a key issue is that when you're flying with no GPS, the drone thinks that he's in one position while, in fact, he's in completely another position." Electronic warfare can make location data unreliable, and wind and other factors can knock a drone off course, out of sync with the operator's expectations. Without GPS, operators have to look at what their drone's camera is showing them and compare it to satellite imagery and maps to figure out where it is. "And that's why you have to look at the visual markers that you have from the camera: a lake, some weird-looking building, weird intersection, and you just discuss all those markers and use them to navigate through the front line basically." "The operator, he's looking at the camera, looking at the map, and figuring out where the drone is and where to go next," he said. That's not an easy task, and in some sectors of the front, this can be extremely difficult. Eastern Ukraine, where most of the fighting is taking place, is very flat and has a largely uniform landscape, making it hard for operators to find those standout features and learn where they are. Zhluktenko said that in the east of the country, "one of the key issues is that all of those places, they look exactly the same. It's the same kind of field, the same kind of forest, and there are literally no visual markers to figure out where you're at." The flat landscape has also made other parts of warfare more difficult, like tank and armored assaults. Drones can see them coming from far off. Another Ukrainian drone operator, who spoke to BI on the condition of anonymity, shared similar experiences, explaining that without GPS, drone operators "have to get oriented using benchmarks." They said that those can include "a building or a lake or a river or some house." Drones have been used in this war more than in any other war throughout history. From quadcopters to octocopters to large fixed-wing aircraft, drones are running reconnaissance operations, collecting targeting data, dropping bombs, and exploding on targets, and that's just the aerial ones. These relatively cheap weapons have eliminated assets worth millions of dollars and destroyed targets far from the front. They're radically changing warfare. And they have been key for Ukraine, which has suffered from shortages of other weaponry. Maj. Gen. Peter Boysen, the commander in chief in Denmark, a significant Ukrainian partner, said this month that attack drones account for more than 70% of Ukrainian kills. The proliferation of drones means that Russian and Ukrainian industries are in a race to find ways to jam and stop the other country's drones. They are also developing new drones that are resistant to or able to overcome those efforts. New drone systems include fiber-optic drones, which have a cable between the operator and the drone that prevents them from being jammed, and AI-enabled drones. Read the original article on Business Insider
Business Insider
23-04-2025
- Business Insider
Ukrainian drone pilots often use 'weird-looking buildings' as guides to fly their drones through heavy Russian GPS jamming
Ukrainian drone operators flying their uncrewed aircraft against the threat of Russian jamming are often unsure where their drones actually are, meaning they have to use other guideposts to find their way, an operator told Business Insider. Directional landmarks can include "weird-looking buildings" or intersections. Operators use these when they can't use GPS to locate themselves and can't be sure exactly where their drones are over fields and treelines that look similar, Dimko Zhluktenko, a drone operator with Ukraine's Unmanned Systems Forces, told BI. Drones warfare is a major part of Russia's war against Ukraine, and both sides are rapidly creating and developing new types of drones and counter-drone technology. The countermeasures include electronic warfare like jamming, which can target connections between the drone and its operator or the aircraft's GPS navigation system. GPS, a satellite-based navigation system, is used in munitions, drones, and civilian technology like digital maps. It plays an essential function in military systems and civilian society, but military leaders are increasingly coming to terms with the reality that modern battlefields may be GPS-denied environments. Weapons that rely on GPS, including sophisticated US weapons, have run into problems on Ukrainian battlefields. "At the front line, there is literally no GPS," Zhluktenko said. "So a key issue is that when you're flying with no GPS, the drone thinks that he's in one position while, in fact, he's in completely another position." Electronic warfare can make location data unreliable, and wind and other factors can knock a drone off course, out of sync with the operator's expectations. Without GPS, operators have to look at what their drone's camera is showing them and compare it to satellite imagery and maps to figure out where it is. "And that's why you have to look at the visual markers that you have from the camera: a lake, some weird-looking building, weird intersection, and you just discuss all those markers and use them to navigate through the front line basically." "The operator, he's looking at the camera, looking at the map, and figuring out where the drone is and where to go next," he said. That's not an easy task, and in some sectors of the front, this can be extremely difficult. Eastern Ukraine, where most of the fighting is taking place, is very flat and has a largely uniform landscape, making it hard for operators to find those standout features and learn where they are. Zhluktenko said that in the east of the country, "one of the key issues is that all of those places, they look exactly the same. It's the same kind of field, the same kind of forest, and there are literally no visual markers to figure out where you're at." The flat landscape has also made other parts of warfare more difficult, like tank and armored assaults. Drones can see them coming from far off. Another Ukrainian drone operator, who spoke to BI on the condition of anonymity, shared similar experiences, explaining that without GPS, drone operators "have to get oriented using benchmarks." They said that those can include "a building or a lake or a river or some house." Drones have been used in this war more than in any other war throughout history. From quadcopters to octocopters to large fixed-wing aircraft, drones are running reconnaissance operations, collecting targeting data, dropping bombs, and exploding on targets, and that's just the aerial ones. These relatively cheap weapons have eliminated assets worth millions of dollars and destroyed targets far from the front. They're radically changing warfare. And they have been key for Ukraine, which has suffered from shortages of other weaponry. Maj. Gen. Peter Boysen, the commander in chief in Denmark, a significant Ukrainian partner, said this month that attack drones account for more than 70% of Ukrainian kills. The proliferation of drones means that Russian and Ukrainian industries are in a race to find ways to jam and stop the other country's drones. They are also developing new drones that are resistant to or able to overcome those efforts. New drone systems include fiber-optic drones, which have a cable between the operator and the drone that prevents them from being jammed, and AI-enabled drones.
Yahoo
17-04-2025
- Yahoo
Soldiers in Ukraine panic and jam everything when they can't tell friendly and enemy drones apart, a drone operator says
There are so many drones in Ukraine that soldiers can easily find themselves confused about which side they belong to. An operator told BI that sometimes soldiers panic and jam everything. He said, "they're scared" and unsure if a drone flying at them is Russian or Ukrainian. Some soldiers in Ukraine get so confused by all the drones in the sky that they panic and jam everything, a drone operator shared with Business Insider. Dimko Zhluktenko, a drone operator with Ukraine's Unmanned Systems Forces, told BI that telling drones apart is "a big problem" as there are so many drones, and many are "technologically very, very similar." "Imagine yourself being an infantry guy," he said, explaining that "you are seeing an FPV drone flying at you, and you literally have no idea whether that is a Russian one that just came from behind or a Ukrainian." "So there are a lot of cases happening when Ukrainian guys, the infantry, in their position, they have an EW system and they literally click all of the frequencies to be jammed because they're scared." The Ukraine war is a high-tech fight involving a range of robotic technologies, but how that fight plays out "depends on human beings." "There will always be an issue just because not everyone is an expert in technology, and it's hard," Zhluktenko said. "Let's say you have a guy who never had a smartphone sitting in the infantry in the trench, right? And he's supposed to understand that there is a friend or foe FPV drone flying at him and he has to put this specific frequency on the jammer. It's a mess." So, instead of jamming a specific frequency, he just jams everything, hindering not just enemy drones but friendly ones as well. There have been reports of Ukrainian forces accidentally jamming their own drones. Drones, especially small uncrewed aerial systems like the FPV quadcopter platforms, have been used more in Russia's invasion of Ukraine than in any other conflict in history, and an electronic warfare battle has emerged to defeat them. Russia and Ukraine both try to jam each other's drones to break the connection between the operator and the drone. Although some drones like fiber-optic systems or AI-driven platforms are largely immune to enemy jamming, most drones are connected to the operaters by radio frequencies that can be flooded with noise. As electronic warfare countermeasures have become more prolific, so have efforts to stop jamming efforts. BI has seen combat footage from the war, and the confusion about drones is real, especially when there are dozens flying overhead. "Whose drone is that?" and "Is that one of ours?" are questions that have been shouted many times over the sounds of gunfire. A US veteran fighting for Ukraine told BI last year that he could not tell which side a drone above him belonged to until it dropped a grenade. Then he had to start running. Another Ukrainian drone operator, who spoke to BI on the condition of anonymity, said amid the confusion, infantry sometimes attempts to shoot down every drone they see. Zhluktenko said some Russian drones can be easy to identify. Russia makes far fewer drone types than Ukraine, and he said that makes it easier for Ukraine to learn to identify those drones and how to defeat them. But sometimes, when they're rapidly buzzing by overhead amid distractions like other enemy activity, it can be harder to sort out which one belongs to which side. Zhluktenko said that with most drones, "they all sound the same, and they all look the same, really. And they have the same radio frequency signature and anything." Both Ukraine and Russia use some of the same types of drones, like the Mavic drones from Chinese company DJI. And the radio frequencies get so crowded that operators sometimes unintentionally see other operators' drone feeds. Operators try to avoid situations like mass jamming because that doesn't help, especially given the importance of still being able to fly their side's drones. Zhluktenko said that drone operators try to coordinate with other soldiers to tell them when they are going to fly along the front line or through areas where the Ukrainian soldiers are. He said that they send activity notifcations using messaging apps like Signal, explaining "we have a group chat of coordinating small aviation in that specific sector." Russia and Ukraine are engaged in an arms race, striving for supremacy in drone technology and electronic warfare countermeasures. Drones have been used to monitor and locate enemy troops and equipment, launch attacks on soldiers and weaponry, and destroy equipment worth millions of dollars at a fraction of the cost. Ukraine's defense minister said in February that his country was winning the race and had become the world's largest producer of tactical and strategic drones. Russia is working to increase its domestic production as well. Ukraine is now making most of its own drones, and its defense industry is booming. That self-sustainability is key as the US under President Donald Trump has become less reliable. Zhluktenko said he will keep fighting Russia, regardless of US support levels. "I do not think that some people in the United States are able to affect whether I want to fight for my home or my family," he said. "At the same time, it's kind of sad that because I know a lot of great Americans, I'm proud to call them friends." He said that he saw the brutal ways Ukrainians living in parts of the country occupied by Russia have been treated. "So I know that I just don't want this to happen to my home next." Read the original article on Business Insider
Yahoo
09-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Ukraine's soldiers make real-looking fake bunkers to fool the Russians into bombing the wrong spot, drone operator says
Ukrainian soldiers trick the Russians into attacking the wrong positions by building fake bunkers. They put effort into making it look real, even putting trash nearby, a drone operator told BI. Drone operators are targets for the Russians, so they operate underground on scarred battlefields. Soldiers in Ukraine make fake bunkers with tree branches and more to trick Russian drone operators hunting for them. This is especially important for Ukraine's drone operators, which are often high-priority targets. It has become standard operating procedure for soldiers to "make a few fake positions," Dimko Zhluktenko, a drone operator with Ukraine's Unmanned Systems Forces, told Business Insider. He said that soldiers build the fake positions in the tree line, designing them so that it all "looks real." "You would leave some marks of human life in there, some trash or anything," Zhluktenko explained, adding that it makes Russian reconnaissance drone ops more likely to focus on the fake position. When the fake bunker draws enemy fire, it's a telling warning for the Ukrainian soldiers. That "would be a signal for you to get the hell out of there as soon as you can," Zhluktenko said. Another Ukrainian drone operator, who spoke to BI on the condition of anonymity, said that the fake bunkers are something that Ukrainian operators will try to do when they have enough personnel to pull it off. Ukrainian drone operators are high-priority targets for Russia's military. For that reason, they regularly to try to stay concealed from Russia's attack drones and its reconnaissance drones that provide targeting data for its soldiers and other weaponry, but they can't shy away from the front lines. They have to be close enough to fight, especially with impediments like electronic warfare covering parts of the battlefield and complicating operations. The drone operator who requested anonymity said that the distance that an operator can hang back from the fighting depends on the terrain, but operators typically have to get as close as 0.9 miles from the front line. With largely static lines in many places and intense fighting, operators often hide underground. A US veteran who is now fighting for Ukraine told BI last year that when operating from a town, most, if not all, of the buildings there are destroyed. "Our somewhat urban environment is all rubble," they said. The front lines can be so unmoving that positions get "hit enough by artillery, drones, mortars, and other types of ordinance. It just falls apart little by little by little over time. And then eventually, it gets to a point where it's not a defendable position," the veteran said. For the Ukrainians, many of their positions get "whittled down to next to nothing" and become "impossible to defend." Zhluktenko, who has operated both strike and reconnaissance drones, said that operators like him often use underground dugouts covered with trees and branches. They put their computers and equipment that is needed to operate the drones in here. They then try to find places where they can put the drone antenna and launching mechanism without being spotted, making them "look like a tree or something." Throughout the war in Ukraine, both the Russian and Ukrainian armies have engaged in deception, using decoys and setting up traps to fool the enemy. These have included cardboard weapons, inflatable tanks, fake trench traps filled with bombs, and more. These tactics have played critical roles in protecting troops and military equipment. The other Ukrainian drone operator said that operators try to operate "constantly inside a bunker," but they said that operators will sometimes have to risk going outside, including to put their drone on the ground so it can take off. He said it can be highly dangerous because if an operator is spotted, they immediately see Russian drones flying toward them. When Russia spots Ukraine's drone operators or their drone stations, those become "target number one," he explained. He said that when Russia attacks the positions, it does not hold anything back. "It does not sacrifice anything," he said, and its response can include Russia's devastating glide bombs. Drones of all types are being used more in Russia's invasion of Ukraine than in any other conflict in history, and the skies above the battlefield can be filled with drones to the point that soldiers have found themselves confused about which ones are theirs. Both sides are racing to make more drones than the other and to out-develop each other's drones and counter-drone measures. Read the original article on Business Insider
Yahoo
04-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Russia is flying fewer types of drones over Ukraine, making them easier to target
There are so many drones over Ukraine that soldiers can be unsure which ones belong to each side. But a Ukrainian operator said Russia is innovating less, making some of its drones easier to beat. Ukraine has hundreds of companies working on drones, while Russia has a more centralized approach. Russia is flying fewer types of drones than Ukraine, which is making them easier to recognize and defeat, a Ukrainian drone operator told Business Insider. Dimko Zhluktenko, a drone operator with Ukraine's Unmanned Systems Forces, told BI that when it comes to some Russian drone types, "it's very easy to identify them. They rarely make any changes to the design." Russia's invasion of Ukraine has become a war of drone-filled skies. Yet Ukraine is presenting a bigger variety of drone types to counter, aided by a huge domestic drone industry with hundreds of companies producing a vast range of different models and technologies. Russia, in contrast, has focused on making bigger numbers of just a few models. While this has helped it produce them at scale, it also aids Ukrainian drone operators in identifying them and developing a sense of how to defeat them. Zhluktenko said that Ukraine's more dispersed way of making drones means that "it is very hard for them to surprise us and it's very easy for us to surprise them." He said Russia doesn't upgrade its drone designs very often, so it can be "very easy to identify friend/foe." Russia's defense procurement is highly centralized, with soldiers getting material through state weapons manufacturers and Russian allies like Iran and North Korea. Ukraine, in contrast, has hundreds of homegrown defense companies that work directly with soldiers to develop, test, and roll out gear, as well as volunteer networks that buy, alter, and develop new equipment for soldiers. James Patton Rogers, a drone expert at the Cornell Brooks Tech Policy Institute, told BI that Russia's more centralized process means that "if there's an error with a component part, then it will be an error that spreads across systems. If there's a loophole that allows you to hack, then it spreads across all systems and makes them vulnerable." The different varieties of drones give Ukraine some advantages, but it still has a huge challenge. An advisor to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told NPR last month that Russia is a few months behind Ukraine when it comes to drone innovation, but has a far larger production capacity. The production gap means Ukraine's soldiers are still using some drones bought from Western and Chinese companies. Those can be bought by the soldiers themselves, or by crowdfunding groups. Zhluktenko said they are needed, but typically don't perform as well as Ukrainian-made drones designed specifically for this fight. Ukraine is making most of its drones itself. Its military said more than 96% of the 1.5 million drones it bought last year were of Ukrainian origin, and that number is set to increase in 2025. Russian President Vladimir Putin said his country would make 1.4 million drones in 2024, but it's not clear if that goal was met. Most of the drones that Russia has fired at Ukraine have been Shaheds, a type of drone given to Russia by Iran and that Russia has started making itself. Mauro Gilli, a senior researcher in military technology at ETH Zurich, told BI that Russia "does not have the type of production, both scale and diversity, that Ukraine has." He also said that Ukraine has been the first in the world to develop some drone tech. Ukraine's pioneering drone types have included different naval drones, and drones that can fly over 1,800 miles. Drones remain key to Ukraine's fightback against Russia, especially given its smaller military and population. Zhluktenko said that in his unit's area of the front, up to 80% of hits on Russian infantry and mechanized targets are being made by drones. Ukraine also uses them to identify and launch attacks, hit Russian ships and oil refineries, and in place of weaponry like artillery. But while Russia's approach to different drone models makes it easier, defeating them is still a struggle. Zhluktenko said it can still be "a big problem" to recognize whose drones are whose, because there are so many flying at any given time. Another drone operator, who spoke to BI on the condition of anonymity, said there can be so many drones in the sky that infantry can be ordered to shoot down every one they see. Even so, they said that Ukraine's overall tactics and equipment were constantly changing toward unmanned systems, and that drones were proving "decisive." Ukraine will be hoping it can keep this advantage. Read the original article on Business Insider
