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
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.
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.