Russian military deploying new navigation systems for UAVs in Ukraine

MOSCOW, September 30. /TASS/. Russian troops are using the new Kometa, Zvezdochet, and Susanin navigation systems for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in the special military operation in Ukraine, an unmanned aviation expert and CEO of the Center for Integrated Unmanned Solutions Dmitry Kuzyakin told TASS.

"The main challenge lies in the navigation of long-range drones. The enemy is relying on Turkish, European, and American solutions. We, on the other hand, are developing our own capabilities, which are bearing fruit in the form of solutions such as Kometa, Susanin, and Zvezdochet. It’s difficult to single out any one of them as the most important. Each of them is not just an out-of-the-box solution, but an entire onboard system with its own analytics, onboard computer, and highly complex software," the expert noted.

According to Kuzyakin, the main advantage of Russian solutions is the software. "It’s not difficult to put together antennas, a controller, and interfaces. What’s difficult is writing software that can do the impossible – navigate a long-range flight through interference, loss of communication, and enemy air defense systems to reach the target, and guide the UAV to it without errors or deviations," the specialist added.

Kuzyakin also highlighted the features of the latest Russian navigation systems for UAVs. "In their operation, these systems do not rely on any single channel of location data. They cross-reference navigation data from various sources, determine the degree of reliability of each, and construct the most plausible navigation picture for the onboard flight computer. Behind this simple explanation lie hundreds of ingenious software solutions developed by the Russian defense-industrial complex. The enemy may find the devices themselves in a pile of metal at destroyed facilities. They may be able to physically dismantle them, but they will never gain access to what matters most – the software," he noted.