File image.
Russia has begun to equip its Geran-2 suicide drones with a simple infrared light system to jam Ukrainian interceptor drones.
The upgrade was revealed by Serhii “Flash” Beskrestnov, a Ukrainian expert in radio communications and electronic warfare, who shared on January 2 a photo showing the wreckage of a Geran-2 drone equipped with the new system to his Telegram channel.
The photo shows a small plate with six infrared LED lights installed on the rear of one of the vertical stabilizers at the drone’s wingtips.
Click to see full-size image.
If powerful enough, infrared light could blind both day and infrared cameras. Thus, the idea of the system is to simply blind the terminal guidance system of interceptor drones.
Interceptors fly towards their targets based on coordinates typically provided by ground-based radar or optical systems. At the terminal phase, however, the operator utilizes an on-board optical system, usually based on a day or an infrared camera, via a two-way data link to fly the interceptor itself into the target in what is technically known as “man-in-the-loop” guidance.
Blinding the on-board optical guidance system could very much leave the operator incapable of making the final approach towards the target, significantly reducing the effectiveness of the interceptor.
The propeller-driven Geran-2, said to be a copy of Iran’s Shahed-136, has a range of around 2,500 kilometers with a speed of 180 kilometers per hour. The standard version of the drone is designed for suicide attacks. For that, it is equipped with a GLONASS-aided inertial navigation system and warhead weighting anywhere from 30 to 90 kilogram.
Russia expanded the production of the Geran-2 in a significant way last year, and with that drone attacks on Ukraine became more frequent and effective.
With its Western allies incapable of keeping up with its high demand for anti-aircraft missiles, Ukraine began to rely more and more on interceptor drones in recent months.
Now, however, Russia may have found a simple coast-effective way to render interceptors deployed by Kiev forces ineffective.
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i’ll be “jamming” many russian girls this year…heheheh