The expert explained that this element in the “Shahed” is key.
During the drone attack last night, the Russians used a different type of CRPA satellite navigation antenna on the “Shahed”.
This was said by a military specialist in electronic warfare and communications systems, head of the “Center for Radio Technologies” Sergey Beskrestnov, call sign “Flash”.
According to him, Ukrainians have seen such an antenna on Russian drones before, but this time it was probably on all “Shaheds”.
The expert explained that this element in the “Shahed” is key, it is he who ensures that the drone hits the target in the conditions of the Ukrainian electronic warfare.
“Flash” noted that previously Russia used Iranian analogues and “its” Comet antenna on the Shahed. This time the enemy used Chinese-made antennas. The antenna is written in Chinese and English that it is “a part for agriculture”.
“It is still difficult to say what caused this replacement, the lower price of the Chinese alternative, the shortage of Iranian components or the insufficient protection provided by the Russian similar Comet antenna. One of the possible options is the impact of sanctions and the difficulties in the production of Comets, but then we will see a replacement in the KABs, which also have such an antenna”, – warned Sergey Beskrestnov.
As “Military” explains, the CRPA antenna – This is a special navigation GNSS antenna capable of providing high-quality positioning of the drone in space even in conditions of active radio interference by the enemy.
Such antennas identify false radio-electronic signals and help to ignore them. As a result – enemy electronic warfare does not affect the drone's navigation, and it flies clearly to the target.
In particular, Russian CRPA antennas “Comet” were previously detected in Iranian Shahed-136 drones, Russian Orlan-10 and SuperCam reconnaissance drones, etc.