Ukraine Tests New Searchlights for Drone Detection in Night Skies

Ukrainian engineers are testing floodlights of a new design for better detection of air targets in the night sky.

Photos of the system were released online.

It is reported that floodlights were developed in Ukraine on the basis of imported and domestic components.

The complex, in addition to the searchlight, includes a high-energy laser and thermal sight, which allow it to accurately identify and track targets in difficult conditions.

The Ukrainian mobile firing groups have used laser equipment and thermal imagers before, but in this case, all the equipment is part of one whole system.

The devices were tested by several mobile air defense groups, which practiced to repel a simulated attack by strike drones.

Such systems are used to adjust the mobile group’s fire; they are equipped with machine guns and automatic guns. The groups move in SUVs and trucks and set up ambushes in those directions where Russian kamikaze drones and cruise missiles run.

According to Yurii Ihnat, ex-spokesman for the Air Forces Command, mobile firing teams creation was a compelled measure. Ukraine’s military leadership had to take such step to protect infrastructure and other state and strategic military facilities that could potentially be under enemy attack.

The main task of such groups is to intercept as many simple and cheap targets as possible, such as Shahed loitering munitions, to facilitate the work of more powerful missile anti-aircraft systems and preserve their limited ammunition.

However, in addition to a large number of drones, mobile groups also have significantly more complex targets, such as cruise missiles, in particular, stealth Kh-101.

In March 2024, one of the mobile AA teams of the Ground Forces shot down the enemy’s cruise missile with the Browning M2 machine gun.

Recall that at the beginning of the year, the Come Back Alive Foundation transferred 200 floodlights to mobile air defense teams of the State Special Transport Service.