Russian "Shaheds" started hitting moving targets: an expert explained how the Russian army manages to do this
Kyiv • UNN
The Russian army has started using Shahed attack drones with cameras to hit moving targets, such as railway depots. This allows the occupiers to see images in real time and record the results of the strikes.
The Russian army has started hitting moving targets in Ukraine, including railway rolling stock, with "Shaheds" equipped with cameras. The camera on the attack drones allows the Russians to see the picture in real time and record hits. Aviation expert Kostiantyn Kryvolap told UNN about this in a comment.
Details
In early October, a Russian propaganda channel published a video that allegedly showed the work of the Russian army's "smart drones" on a railway train with Ukrainian Armed Forces equipment, as well as on fuel and lubricant tanks in the area of Bobrovytsia, Chernihiv region.
"Drones hit the target on the move and evade the echelon of Ukrainian Air Force aviation covering them, giving it no chance of being shot down," the propagandists noted.
By the way, this is not the first time that the Russians have used "Shaheds" with cameras and radio control. Last year, our soldiers shot down a "Shahed-136" with a WiFi video camera and a 4G/WiFi modem.
Principle of operation: the image from the video camera is transmitted via WiFi to a 4G/WiFi modem, from where it enters the Internet via a 3G/4G network. Through broadcasting on Telegram, the enemy sees the use of air defense systems against UAVs in real time, and also has confirmation of the hit or miss of a designated object.
Already in June of this year, the Telegram channel "eRadar" showed a "Shahed-136" with a thermal imaging camera. It is claimed that the camera on the kamikaze drone provides several important advantages in combat use:
- Targeting at night and in poor visibility: the thermal imager allows detecting thermal sources: equipment engines, generators, people, infrastructure (CHP plants, transformers); this ensures precise targeting even in complete darkness or in smoke/fog.
- Automatic target recognition: the thermal imager can be integrated with a computer vision system; this allows the drone to independently recognize and aim at warm objects, even if GPS or communication is jammed.
- Increased strike accuracy: a drone with a thermal imager can correct its trajectory; aim precisely at a "hot" spot (for example, a transformer block); ignore mock-ups or cold objects (false targets).
- Reduced dependence on external coordinates: without a thermal imager, Shahed flies according to a GPS program (blind route); with a thermal imager, it can adapt to the situation, even if the coordinates are inaccurate or the object has shifted slightly.
Later, the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense published details of the electronic component base of the Shahed-136 MS series attack UAV, shot down in the Sumy direction.
The UAV presented as a sample has a high-speed Nvidia Jetson Orin mini-computer, specialized for AI tasks and video processing. An infrared camera, similar to the one previously announced by Russia, is also present.
The purpose of the module is to receive information from the UAV camera and compare it with loaded models for re-targeting or selecting a target in automatic mode. In addition, this drone can be used for reconnaissance purposes.
As Kryvolap noted, when Russia first received the Iranian "Shahed," it actually flew point-to-point.
That is, coordinates are set, and it flies from point to point (flies - ed.). Then the Russians began to modernize. They began to do it in such a way as to have some picture of what they hit
According to him, the Russians have learned to receive both images and two-way communication from "Shaheds."
"That is, on the one hand, there is information, a video of what is 'under you,' and you have the opportunity to transmit information for control via another communication channel. And in fact, such 'Shaheds' have now become FPV drones. That is, it ('Shahed' - ed.) sees what it is doing. Such systems are much more expensive, because it is necessary to provide repeaters, or means of communication via satellite, or means of communication via local Internet, that is, to transmit 'somewhere to the ground,'" Kryvolap adds.
He emphasizes that shooting down a "Shahed" with or without a camera is no different.