Russian soldiers for many years have carried a device Ukrainian soldiers have not. Ukraine has lacked a portable, mass-produced, relatively cheap device capable of recognizing drone signatures, Ukrainian Defense Ministry adviser Serhii "Flash" Beskrestnov said.
"I haven't tested the range yet, but it recognizes signatures well. Even MESH," he wrote.
It can also control electronic warfare and see analog video. The one thing that disappointed him was the upper frequency band, because the front is already saturated with video transmitters up to 8 GHz.
"I'll say right away: this solution is intended for mobile equipment or stationary points," Beskrestnov said.
You cannot jam what you cannot identify. A detector that reads a drone's signature is the first step in the chain that ends in bringing it down.
Detection is now harder half of drone war
Knowing a drone is there has become the difficult part. Russia has pushed toward drones that are hard to detect and impossible to jam, such as low-flying Molniyas with small radar signatures, fiber-optic drones that emit no radio signal at all, and now AI-guided variants with no operator link.
Ukraine shot down an AI-equipped Molniya over Zaporizhzhia for the first time on 9 July with no antenna, no operator, and no emissions for a detector to catch. Against that class of threat, the answer has shifted from electronic warfare to kinetic interception: a bullet or an interceptor drone rather than a jamming signal.
But most Russian drones still emit something. A soldier who can read a signature knows what is overhead, which frequency it uses, and whether the jammer in his kit can touch it. That is what the Bulat gave Russian troops, and what Ukrainian troops have been improvising without.
Detector is one piece of wider Ukrainian catch-up
Ukraine has been building the detection layer quickly, mostly through private firms. Ukrainian company Kara Dag pioneered acoustic and infrared systems to spot fiber-optic drones that jamming cannot stop. Another Ukrainian detector-maker's technology is now drawing interest abroad as drone warfare spreads beyond Ukraine.
