Germany has promised to supply Ukraine with attack drones that can find targets independently and are invulnerable to modern electronic warfare systems, Russian portal RIA Novosti writes.
Drones have been a major part of the war in Ukraine, handling reconnaissance, target designation, drops, ramming attacks, and interception of enemy attack drones and even helicopters. However, electronic countermeasures can still jam communication channels between the drone and the operator.
Now, a Munich-based company ,Helsing, is producing the HX-2 drones controlled by artificial intelligence. The company will be sending 1,000 drones per month to Ukraine starting in January.
Helsing says the drone, designed with an X-shaped wing, weighs 12 kilograms, can reach speeds of up to 220 kilometers per hour, and has a range of 100 kilometers. The warhead is a cumulative or high-explosive penetrating warhead, effective against field fortifications and heavy armored vehicles.
With its AI, this drone will be able to analyze the terrain, determine its location without GPS navigation, and independently select and hit a target. Since the communication channel between the operator and the drone that can typically be jammed is not present, electronic warfare systems are powerless against it.
Several HX-2s can perform coordinated missions simultaneously, i.e., a drone swarm, where one acts as a gunner, giving target designations to the others. In theory, the “drone swarm” technology is very effective on the battlefield, but it is unknown how it will behave in real combat conditions. It is also unclear whether a smart drone is capable of distinguishing between enemies and friends.
RIA reports that Russia’s Izdeliya-53 drone also has some artificial intelligence, including an automatic guidance system, which allows it to recognize and hit a target with minimal operator involvement, or even without it. It can also act in a swarm capacity. There is little information available about the combat use of Izdelia-53, but its predecessor, the Lancet, has been highly effective.
The portal also points out an alternative to dodge electronic jamming systems: UAVs controlled by fiber optic cables. An FPV drone, “Prince Vandal Novgorodsky” (KVN), has been used since this past summer, transmitting data from the operator via a special ultra-thin fiberglass cable which gradually unwinds in flight from a reel on the drone’s body. It is impossible to jam such a connection unless you physically cut the cable. The camera provides excellent image quality, and the drone is quite reliable. However, on average, there are one or two cable breaks per 10 launches.
It is also not easy to control these drones, RIA reports, since they are heavy and clumsy, plus their range is limited to some15-20 kilometers, and operators need to take wind into account, as the cable can get caught in trees and bushes. Newer versions are expected to get rid of these drawbacks.
