Russia upgrades Shahed drones with new tech, EW protection – Ukrainian Air Force

According to Ukrinform, this was reported by Yurii Ihnat, Chief of the Communications Directorate of the Air Force Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, in an interview with Ukrainska Pravda.

“The Shaheds are evolving. At first, they were simply painted black. Then they were equipped with protection against electronic warfare (EW) systems — now it takes more stations to suppress a Shahed. Its antenna now contains many components that defend against EW. Though EW remains an effective method — the drone won’t hit the target, and hopefully crashes somewhere in a field. EW can suppress both missiles and drones,” Ihnat said.

At the same time, he emphasized that Ukraine has begun using interceptor drones to shoot down Shaheds.

“It’s a recent development, but there have already been some successful interceptions of Shaheds by what we call anti-aircraft drones. This approach is being implemented across all branches of the Defense Forces. I think it will be scaled up. We need to stay one step ahead,” Ihnat stressed.

In addition, he reminded that, according to open sources, the cost of a Shahed is around $200,000.

“Even if they’ve managed to cut production costs somehow, it’s still very expensive. That’s why Russia also uses decoy drones that mimic Shaheds. These drones are similar in radar signature, but when they come closer, our Defense Forces can distinguish them by sound or visually. And for each target, the appropriate weapon will be used,” Ihnat explained.

As previously reported by Ukrinform, Ukraine needs around 200 modern combat aircraft to effectively counter air and ground threats from Russia.