Ukraine's greatest challenge today is not Moscow's attempts to modernize its outdated weapons. The most concerning fact is that Russians are increasingly experimenting with various types of communications that enable control of strike drones in FPV mode, says Kostyantyn Kryvolap, a former test engineer at the Antonov Design Bureau, UNIAN reports.
If such a scheme is successfully implemented, drones cease to be “one-time munitions” and instead become guided weapons with a high degree of operational flexibility.
MANPADS on Geran-2: a loud idea with serious limitations
The Russians are also attempting to breathe new life into outdated Soviet missiles by mounting man-portable air defense systems (MANPADS) on Geran-2–type drones. While the idea looks striking, in practice, it faces serious technical limitations.
According to Kryvolap, installing a MANPADS inevitably reduces the drone’s range, from a notional 2,500 kilometers to approximately 2,000 kilometers.
However, this reduction is not decisive, because in such a configuration, the Shahed effectively loses its own warhead and becomes nothing more than a missile carrier.
“This setup definitely reduces the range, but there is no longer a warhead, and the Shahed itself is just an aircraft. So there is no talk of precision,” Kryvolap explains.
The real risk is stable communications: how Shaheds could turn into long-range FPV drones
The expert stresses that the key threat lies not in the MANPADS, but in communications. In its basic configuration, a drone simply flies to preset coordinates. But with stable data links, it could theoretically be used in FPV mode.
“The MANPADS themselves are nonsense, in my opinion. But if the Russians manage to ensure stable transmission of at least two communication channels, then such platforms could already operate at distances of up to 200 kilometers,” Kryvolap notes.
Ukraine has already seen signs of this approach in practice. In particular, during a strike on a passenger train near Korosten, as well as an attack on a fuel train at the border of Sumy and Chernihiv oblasts.
In the latter case, the drone struck the locomotive, after which the entire train was destroyed by Shahed strikes, indicating deliberate targeting of a key objective rather than a random hit.
