Ukraine has set a new record for downing Shahed drones by a single soldier: in one night, a serviceman from the 1020th Anti-Aircraft Missile Regiment destroyed 24 kamikaze drones
One of the easiest way to deal with stuff like Shahed is to fly to them and shoot them down using a gun. Drones are no longer super cheap. They need to survive electronic warfare and that hardening costs a lot. A WW2 style prop plane with a 50cal or similar can just shoot down a Shahed no problem. There are plenty of trainer aircraft, which fit the bill.
Drones are no longer super cheap. They need to survive electronic warfare and that hardening costs a lot.
I don’t think that Shaheds need to be able to have a datalink home to operate. I remember reading about one that shot down or was crashed being found by Ukraine that did have some kind of radio, cell or Starlink or something, but I believe that that was the exception, that normally they just fly a preprogrammed path to a preprogrammed destination.
You might be able to disrupt the satellite navigation system that they’re using, make them rely on inertial navigation. But it doesn’t have the kind of dependency that the FPV drones do.
One of the easiest way to deal with stuff like Shahed is to fly to them and shoot them down using a gun. Drones are no longer super cheap. They need to survive electronic warfare and that hardening costs a lot. A WW2 style prop plane with a 50cal or similar can just shoot down a Shahed no problem. There are plenty of trainer aircraft, which fit the bill.
I don’t think that Shaheds need to be able to have a datalink home to operate. I remember reading about one that shot down or was crashed being found by Ukraine that did have some kind of radio, cell or Starlink or something, but I believe that that was the exception, that normally they just fly a preprogrammed path to a preprogrammed destination.
You might be able to disrupt the satellite navigation system that they’re using, make them rely on inertial navigation. But it doesn’t have the kind of dependency that the FPV drones do.
Shahed is like 40 times the drone’s price though, if I have my numbers correct.
There’s a flip side to that. drone costs whatever, missile costs 40 times that, but if the missile hits its target you lose 400 times that or more