“We will answer their answer”: Ukraine tests EW against jet Shaheds’ MESH control

Ukrainian presidential adviser on defense technology development, Serhii "Flash" Beskrestnov, spent a day at a test range, jamming the control channel of its hardest air-defense problem. Ukraine is testing new electronic warfare means against jet-powered Shaheds, he said.

Russia's new Banderol jet-powered drone is fast, cheap to make, and dangerous to Ukrainian cities. The S8000 "Banderol" is a hybrid of a kamikaze drone and a cruise missile. 

"At a meeting, the President defined one of the most important tasks — the question of countering jet Shaheds," Beskrestnov wrote.

Both sides will escalate in war of technologies 

Jet Shaheds are a real challenge for Ukrainian air defense, but they are most dangerous in online-control mode through a MESH network. 

"Today I spent the day at a test range where we tested options for countering MESH networks with electronic warfare," he revealed.

EW producers, with support from the Brave1 defense-tech cluster and the General Staff's Main Directorate of Electronic Warfare, are advancing technologies to suppress the control channels of enemy Shaheds that run over MESH radio modems, he said.

"I know how and with what the enemy will answer our EW. And we will answer their answer. Welcome to the world of the war of technologies," Flash wrote.

MESH-controlled jet Shahed is threat that beats both defenses

The target of the tests is the combination that defeats Ukraine's two main counters at once. Jet-powered Geran variants cruise at 300 to 350 km/h and burst to higher speeds, outrunning much of Ukraine's cheap interceptor-drone fleet. And a drone flown live by an operator over a MESH radio network is not following a preprogrammed route.

Beskrestnov identified this exact evolution in May, when Ukraine's interception rate against ordinary Shaheds hit 95%: Russia's response would be jet-powered variants and border-area targeting, where mesh radio control works.

This month, he documented the next step. According to him, Russia is shifting from mass raids to single, complex, hand-flown strikes, including one Shahed that dropped to 22 meters to slip under Ukrainian radar.