Shahed Gets Anti-Radiation Seeker

The Russian military has started equipping Shahed-type oneway drones with passive radar homing heads.

Details about this new technology appeared on the Ukrainian military auction site Reibert, according to Colonel GSh Telegram channel.

A unit, removed from a downed or crashed drone, was listed for sale for $3,200.

The homing head allows kamikaze drones to autonomously target sources of radio emissions during flight.

Photos and the auction description show that the device has four directional antennas.

Theoretically, such a unit can turn a regular kamikaze drone into the equivalent of an anti-radiation missile. Instead of flying to pre-determined coordinates, the UAV can hunt active air defense systems.

Technical analysis of the components indicates the use of elements from a Russian state identification system. In particular, the device includes an antenna module from the Lyra-VM system.

This specific component is marked 125AE02 CIVR.464651.015. It belongs to the channel of the unified state radar identification system (ES GRLO), which is typically used in aviation and air defense.

As previously reported, Russian forces have used Shahed-type kamikaze drones as carriers for FPV drones.

Two drones were mounted on its main wing—one on each side.

The enemy drone was destroyed before it could deploy its payload, so its exact purpose cannot be determined at this time.

It is likely that the Shahed could have served as a reconnaissance drone, a signal relay, or remained an attack kamikaze drone.