In the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, drones have become almost a regular strike weapon. Due to the low cost, easy assembly, small size, the ability to break through the city's security and monitoring facilities is strong, especially in the densely populated airspace for ultra-low flight is difficult to be early warning, so Ukraine in the case of insufficient weapons and ammunition, unmanned boat + UAV integration tactical means, to the Russian power plant, oil refinery, Even the bombers parked at the airport, early warning aircraft and other targets have caused some damage, resulting in the Russian Black Sea fleet suffered heavy losses.
In addition, the Ukrainian army has begun to use FPV drones to attack Russian armored vehicles and fortifications. Russia also frequently uses drones and even sends "swarms" to attack targets such as Ukraine's energy infrastructure and ordnance production bases, which also have immediate destructive effects.
Russia and Ukraine have innovated the following tactical means and weapons in counterattacking and intercepting each other's incoming drones:
--Use acoustic detectors to provide early warning of incoming drones
Early warning is the basic premise of intercepting and attacking incoming drones. In the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, although the Ukrainian army constantly changes the radio frequency of the UAVs to avoid the reconnaissance of the Russian counter-UAVs, the UAVs will buzz in operation no matter what frequency they use. Based on this, the Russian army has developed a detector through the acoustic principle, no matter what radio frequency and how to change the frequency of the Ukrainian army UAV, it can use the sound detector to detect the incoming Ukrainian army UAV early at a distance of one or two kilometers or even more, and even determine what type. Although the relevant parameters and battlefield combat effects of this detector have not been announced, it does use the sound characteristics of the drone to identify the model of the drone, and the specific use effect remains to be seen.
--Use heavy and heavy machine guns against drones
When the Russia-Ukraine conflict broke out in 2022, Ukraine developed the "Delta" data distributed combat system based on the cloud and equipped with a powerful security system, so that the Ukrainian army can obtain early warning of incoming drones through remote devices such as computers or mobile phones, and convert it into a format that can be used to find incoming targets and evaluate the value of incoming targets. Make recommendations on the weapons to be used to destroy or degrade the target; Using apps, any Ukrainian citizen with a mobile phone can take photos of the drone in flight and automatically transmit them, along with location data, to the Ukrainian military command center. This information is then added to similar reports, providing the Ukrainian army with valuable intelligence and target data for light and heavy machine gunners to shoot down Russian combat drones.
Due to the low altitude and slow speed of small UAVs, they are easy to be shot down by anti-aircraft machine guns. In March 2023, US media reported that a Ukrainian air defense team shot down three Russian UAVs using DP-28 light machine guns.
-- Portable individual system anti-UAV
In May 2022, Ukraine adopted the anti-drone system "Drone Hunter". Video released by the Ukrainian military shows a Ukrainian soldier aiming an anti-drone rifle at a small drone in the sky. A short time later, the drone landed on the Ukrainian soldiers' position. Another soldier grabbed the drone before it hit the ground.
-- Small shells against drones
Researchers at a Russian university have applied for a patent for a cannonball designed to hit small drones. The special feature of this munition is that it is equipped with a device that can disable the on-board electronic and optical equipment of small drones. The 57mm guns used by the Russian army may be equipped with such shells. The munition is said to initially be capable of countering conventional civilian UAVs, which are widely used in special military operations, but also multi-rotor UAVs, small UAVs and various homemade aircraft.
-- Laser weapons against drones
The Russian army is pushing ahead with the construction of other anti-drone, anti-optical and anti-electro-optical equipment laser system engineering, and with tank equipment anti-personnel weapons to combat incoming precision-guided weapons. At present, the Russian army has been equipped with at least two genuine Russian combat lasers. In 2017, the "Pereswaite" full-size mobile laser system was put into service, which is both anti-aircraft and anti-missile, and was put on combat duty on December 1, 2018. In 2017, experimental design work on the "Picking Quarrels" -16 laser weapon project began, and although the relevant information is closely guarded, there are still some leaks indicating that a laser weapon against enemy drones, optical and photoelectric equipment is in development. Russian experts believe that the laser beam produced by Peresvete can damage the electronics of enemy air strike tools, which is enough to destroy ballistic or cruise missiles, or even spacecraft at an altitude of hundreds of kilometers.
-- Setting up "aerial minefields" for drones
According to the location of the UAV base and important defense targets, the main direction and timing of the enemy UAV's dispatch are determined in advance, and according to its activity height and detection ability, the obstruction balloon, parachute cable and aerial lightning projectile are set up over its possible activity airspace to block the airway of the UAV; Or through the aircraft to lay lightning barriers and rockets to throw mines, smoke cans, steel balls, etc., to the enemy drones to lay air traps.
The Russian military has developed an anti-drone device nicknamed "flying net", consisting of simple woven nets and small drones. In use, the Russian drone will be woven net hanging below the body, and the enemy drone has been detected by the Russian military, with the woven net in the air to intercept and "capture" enemy drones, so as to achieve the interception effect. The system is inexpensive and easy to assemble, but it can be effective in intercepting small drones.
-- Electronic jamming of drones
Communication link is the main way of UAV system control, but also the weak link of UAV, so the UAV system is very sensitive to electromagnetic wave interference, once it is subjected to electronic interference, it will lead to wrong control instructions, resulting in its inability to perform tasks, and may even crash out of control.
On April 14, 2022, the Russian Ministry of Defense issued a notice saying that the Russian military units equipped with the "Krasuha" -4S, "Murmansk" and "Moscow" electronic suppression system completed the task of searching and identifying aerial objects (including unmanned reconnaissance aircraft and unmanned attack aircraft), and electronically suppressed the military aircraft airborne radar of the Ukrainian army. Since 2024, in response to the threat of Ukrainian suicide drones, Russia has deployed a variety of electronic countermeasures equipment in the upper part of the T-72 tank body and the turret, which protects the surrounding tank troops from drone attacks by interfering with nearby drone remote control signals.
The Israeli Flag Bearer TB2 drone, which Ukraine bought from Turkey, is defenseless against the Russian army's latest electronic warfare system.
-- Counter drones through communication networks and apps
On December 6, 2023, the press service of the All-Russian People's Front issued a notice saying that the "Radar People's Front" mobile phone app developed by the People's Front, which can quickly react to enemy drones or sabotage activities, has helped the special services to shoot down five enemy drones. According to the report, with the help of timely feedback from users of the app, three drones were shot down in Bryansk Oblast and two in Kursk Oblast. So far, more than 310,000 Russians have downloaded the app. According to the notice, the more people who download the app, the higher the coverage density, the faster the Russian military can receive information about the drone, and win the initiative to shoot down the drone in a timely and fast manner.
Ukraine has found the Ukrainian operator's SIM card in the wreckage of the downed Russian Geranium drone, raising speculation that Russia began trying to direct its drone strikes through Ukraine's internal communications network. The Ukrainian military has complained that Russian Geranium suicide drones have begun flying at night, painted black to make them more stealthily, following a semicircular trajectory instead of a straight line, and flying lower and more dexterously, making it difficult for Ukrainian antiaircraft gunners to intercept them.
-- Drones against drones
Starting from the principle of UAV operation, the electronic interference of UAV to the incoming UAV can block the connection between the incoming UAV and the satellite, so that it can not locate or deviate from the course; It can also interrupt the communication link between the incoming drone and the rear, making the incoming drone drift out of control or even crash. Starting from drones as offensive and defensive weapons, it is also a good way to take drones to hunt and kill incoming drones or kill them together. The Russian army is mainly based on the "Lancet" suicide drone, which has made considerable achievements in actual combat by attacking each other's drones with its speed advantage. Russia is using drones equipped with automatic shotguns to create a "flying AK47" that can carry out face-shaped strikes against drone swarms.