Ukrainian special forces have developed new technology that allows drones to fly without GPS, so Russia cannot jam them: report

• Ukrainian special forces have developed new drone technology that Russia cannot block.

• Drones can now fly and hit targets without GPS or operator intervention, The Economist reported.

• Russia and Ukraine are engaged in an arms race in drones and electronic warfare.

Ukrainian special forces have developed new software allowing drones to fly without GPS, thus limiting the impact of Russian jamming.

The software, called Eagle Eyes, allows unmanned drones to navigate using vision rather than GPS satellite navigation, The Economist reported.

It uses AI to compare live video of the area beneath the drone to a map made from photos and videos previously collected by a reconnaissance aircraft, the report said.

This means that drones can continue to fly even if Russia tries to block them.

The software can also recognize targets, like missile launchers and tanks, and can drop bombs or fly over them without the drone operator needing to give the command, according to The Economist.

Kurt Volker, a former U.S. ambassador to NATO and former special representative for Ukraine, told the outlet that technology could be an important factor in helping Ukraine turn the tide against Russia, but it will take time to see its effectiveness.

A commander of a special forces corps called White Eagle, which is helping develop the technology, said the software is already widely used and is cheap enough to be used on kamikaze drones: drones that are destroyed on impact, making them unsuitable. to costly upgrades.

A White Eagle captain told The Economist that Russian jamming stations were the primary target and Russian S-400 air defense systems the second.

More drones were used in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine than in any other conflict in history.

Both sides use them to conduct reconnaissance and attack troops and weapons, while developing electronic warfare to try to make the other side’s drones less effective.

This has led to a new arms race, as both countries attempt to develop better drones and drone jamming technology.

In May 2023, the Royal United Services Institute, a British think tank, said Ukraine could be losing 10,000 drones per monthmainly because of interference.

James Patton Rogers, a drone expert at the Cornell Brooks Tech Policy Institute, described the situation to Business Insider as “a battle within a battle.”

“It’s basically a game of cat and mouse,” Fabian Hinz, an expert on drone warfare at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, told BI, with both sides frequently making big technological advances.

Ukraine has used cheaper civilian drones for much of the war, but these are particularly vulnerable to electronic warfare, making affordable new software like Eagle Eyes essential.

Ukraine had responded to Russian jamming efforts by building new types of drones and drone software.

This includes a new drone that late last year Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine’s deputy prime minister for innovation, education, science and technology, said was equipped with a “powerful GPS antenna” resistant to Russian jamming and electronic warfare.

A Ukrainian company also said last year that it had developed drones resistant to Russian jamming technology and delivered the first batch to the Ukrainian military.

Read the original article on Business Insider