Ukraine Develops Aero Azimuth Signal Intelligence System

Ukrainian manufacturer of electronic warfare systems Kvertus has presented an airborne version of the Azimuth signal intelligence system.

This was reported by Militarnyi journalists who attended the “Protect Warrior from Drone” event.

The main task of the Aero Azimuth system is to detect the location of enemy drones for targeted strikes, aiming to disrupt or terminate their missions.

This approach focuses on neutralizing the drone’s external pilot and crew, who are more costly and time-consuming to train than the drone itself.

According to the developers, Aero Azimuth is to be deployed at a distance of 9 kilometers from the line of contact at a different range of low and medium altitudes.

It is worth noting that such a depth is quite insignificant at the current stage of the Russian-Ukrainian war, but given that this is a passive complex, its detection is possible only by means of optical reconnaissance, which is quite difficult at this distance, but still possible, especially given the current “drone air traffic.”

Kvertus representatives reported that when the aerostat was raised to an average flight altitude, it was possible to detect radio sources at a distance of 60 kilometers, and triangulate them at a distance of 24-30 kilometers.

The Aero Azimuth system is deployed on an aerostat manufactured by the domestic company Aerobavovna. The company’s aerostats can stay in the air without refueling for 7 days, withstand wind gusts of up to 15 meters per second, and lift payloads weighing 4 to 25 kilograms.

The optimum altitude for an aerostat is 300-700 meters.

In addition to the aerostat, the system includes a trailer equipped with a winch, a gas cylinder system, and the tools for repair and maintenance.

Aerostats’ advantage is that their ability to stay in the air for a long time makes it possible to organize a relatively inexpensive and dense system of aerial electronic, radar, or optical reconnaissance and create a network of signal repeaters.

Aerostats are a fairly common means of reconnaissance, and Militarny has already reported on the procurement and combat use of this type of aircraft, including by Russia.

It’s worth noting that during the Anti-Terrorist Operation in Donbas, the Armed Forces of Ukraine had a military unit specifically dedicated to handling aerostats.