The new Ukrainian WRE anti-drone system has been adopted

November 2 this year Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine Mykhailo Fedorov informed his compatriots via social media that the Armed Forces of Ukraine have adopted the electronic warfare system, which has been tested since the summer and is intended to protect vehicles against attacks by Russian kamikaze drones, including Lancet loitering munitions. We are talking about the Piranha-Armored Vehicle Dome 360, which Defence24 reported on August 21.

Piranha-AVD 360 has already undergone field tests, during which it turned out that the Mavic drone began to have problems with GPS navigation after approaching the system at 600 m. After 15 seconds, the drone loses contact with the operator and cannot be controlled. Drones used during the tests hovered in the air, made an emergency landing or fell to the ground.

According to the minister's declaration, Piranha-AVD 360 is ready for series production. If these are not empty appeals to improve morale, the system can significantly support Ukrainian troops on the front at a time when the Russians are trying to match the Ukrainians in the use of FPV drones to attack vehicles and other military targets. It could be particularly useful for the crews of self-propelled gun howitzers, which are an important target of these attacks. It is also important that the manufacturer declares its effectiveness also against attacks by the Lancet loitering ammunition, which the invaders often use to attack the artillery of the Ukrainian Defense Forces.

The adoption of this WRE system in the Ukrainian army coincides with the article by General Valery Zaluzhny for "The Economist", in which he listed areas in which Ukraine must increase its capabilities to avoid a stalemate on the front and a long-term war, and the West should intensify research and mass implementation into the equipment of the armed forces so as not to lag behind the countries of the conventional "axis of evil" (including the Russian Federation, Iran, North Korea). The Supreme Commander of SOU indicated WRE as one of the priority directions, also in terms of combating the threat from enemy drones.

https://twitter.com/FedorovMykhailo/status/1720082841810465040

Of course, the Ukrainians cannot limit themselves to only implementing a "shield" in the form of Piranha-AVD 360, but also must strengthen their capabilities in combating threats using anti-drone, "trench" and mobile (usually wheeled) WRE systems, as well as classic weapons used by anti-aircraft defense.

Piranha-Armored Vehicle Dome 360

The task of the new Ukrainian WRE system is to jam the navigation system and control channels of enemy drones and loitering munitions. According to the manufacturer's declaration, it is able to jam GPS, Glonass, BeiDou and Galileo navigation. Piranha has a power of 150-250 W, which is intended to create a protective space around the vehicle (360 degrees) and a radius of 700 m.

The system is quite compact. Most of the equipment is to be placed under the armor. Outside of it, only the antennas remain. Piranha does not require constant service from the crew. According to the manufacturer's declaration, the system is to be effective not only against commercial unmanned aerial vehicles (e.g. quadrocopters), but also against the Russian Lancet-3 loitering munition. If these are not just empty declarations, the Piranha may prove useful for protecting self-propelled howitzers, which the Russians prefer for attacks.

Interestingly, the Russians also plan to install similar systems on their armored vehicles. Currently, they are testing the effectiveness of solutions produced by their own production ("Triton"), but also... Chinese ones. A little more is known about the Russian "Triton", which is also said to have the ability to disrupt several methods of navigation.