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Russia May Use Hidden Drone Repeaters to Evade Ukraine Defenses
Confirmed
In Short: A weapons expert warns Russia may be using concealed signal repeaters in Ukrainian cities to help its long-range drones evade air defenses.
A weapons expert has warned that Russia may be using concealed signal repeaters in Ukrainian cities to help its long-range drones evade air defenses and strike with greater precision, according to Fox News Digital.
Draganfly CEO and co-founder Cameron Chell told Fox News Digital that Russia could be using small ground devices, or repeaters, to form an expanding 'mesh' network that allows drones to relay encrypted signals across multiple connections.
Chell explained that the size of these repeaters is about the size of a large lunchbox, making them easy to conceal and hard to detect electronically.
Tracking data reportedly showed no relay drones airborne during recent strikes, fueling concerns that hidden ground-based repeaters may have been used to maintain communications with the attacking drone.
According to Serhii 'Flash' Beskrestnov, an adviser on the development of technological areas of defense, Russian Mesh repeaters may be operating in Kyiv, providing Shahed drones with a short-term communication channel for adjusting strikes against targets.
Beskrestnov noted that such repeaters are difficult to find but emphasized the need to search for them.
In June, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko to dismantle the repeaters.
On September 29, the State Border Guard Service said that Belarus periodically activates repeaters to boost the signal of Russian drones during attacks on Ukraine.
Russia again targeted Kyiv late on Oct. 5, with drone debris falling into a residential area in Kyiv's Pecherskyi district after air defenses shot it down.
France is preparing fresh defense assistance for Ukraine amid relentless Russian aerial attacks, with a new support package expected 'soon,' Zelensky revealed after his call with French President Emmanuel Macron.
Chell warned that moving one or two or even three of these repeaters into a city the size of Kyiv can be hugely effective.
The use of mesh networking is now making it increasingly hard for a defensive position to bring down Russian drones in an effective manner.
What this adds
The report adds to prior warnings about Russia's use of concealed signal repeaters in Ukrainian cities to help its long-range drones evade air defenses.
Sources have not established the exact locations or operational details of these repeaters, but the accounts agree on the potential threat they pose to Ukrainian air defenses.
Background
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy says Russia may have shared jet-drone technology with North Korea.
A weapons expert has warned that Russia may be using concealed signal repeaters in Ukrainian cities to help its long-range drones evade air defenses and strike with greater precision, according to Fox News Digital.
What's confirmed
- Russia may be concealing signal repeaters inside Ukrainian cities to help its long-range drones evade air defenses and strike with greater precision, a weapons expert told Fox News Digital.
- The Kyiv Post first reported the possible use of the small ground devices, or repeaters, which Draganfly CEO and co-founder Cameron Chell said form part of an expanding "mesh" network that allows Russian drones to relay encrypted signals across multiple connections, making drones and drone swarms far harder for Ukraine to disrupt and bring down through standard electronic jamming. Chell’s warning also came amid escalating diplomatic notices for the region, with Moscow urging foreign nationals and embassy staff to leave the capital Kyiv immediately on Oct. 3, highlighting "mortal danger" as Russian forces threatened further "massive retaliatory strikes."
- Mesh networks, Chell explained, allow drones and strategically placed ground-based repeaters to relay encrypted signals across multiple connections, making many Russian drone flights harder to disrupt.
- "The size of these repeaters is really about the size of a large lunchbox. They're very easy to conceal, and they don't have to be turned on all the time, so they're hard to detect electronically," Chell said.
- Tracking data reportedly showed no relay drones airborne during the strike, fueling concerns that hidden ground-based repeaters may have been used to maintain communications with the attacking drone.
What's still developing
- According to "Flash", the ability to control Shaheds online poses a threat not only to bridges but also to air defense systems. He also explained that to accurately hit a specific bridge support or cable, a stable drone control channel is needed right up to the moment of impact. Beskrestnov added that the Ukrainian side is carefully examining the wreckage of downed drones. According to him, no other "secret" communication systems that could explain the drones’ operation have been identified so far.
- Beskrestnov also drew attention to photos circulating in the Russian information space showing Ukrainian air defense systems deployed on bridges in the capital.
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- Writing on Facebook, Beskrestnov, a communications specialist known by the callsign “Flash,” explained that clandestine signal repeaters situated within the capital could create temporary communication links enabling Russian operators to actively pilot loitering munitions onto high-value targets.
- On October 3, presidential advisor Serhii "Flash" Beskretnov asserted that the increased precision of Russian strikes on central Kyiv must have been enabled by the existence of mesh radio repeaters located inside the Ukrainian capital, something that suggested the presence of well-resourced collaborators assisting the Russian strikes.
- "The enemy is using high-quality materials in its UAVs and increasing camera resolution, allowing the enemy to view the situation on the ground in detail and use these UAVs for various targets. And the use of mesh networks is indeed present. Of course, this is quite dangerous," Ihnat said, according to Ukrainska Pravda.
- "They will be doing everything they can to move as many of these things not just into Kyiv, but at any location in the country, even operational battlefields," Chell said.
- "It is obvious that the Russians are not preparing to stop the war – at least not at the moment," Zelenskyy said.
- "You can take the device onto a particular portion of a bridge because you can make that real-time, last-minute decision live because you've got all these additional network connections that increase not just your bandwidth, but also your resilience in terms of being jammed," he added.
- "(I)f a threat arises that we feel needs to be addressed by a change in posture, we'll do so. We haven't done that up to this point," U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said.
- According to the case materials, the attacker tracked potential "targets" for four days in order to direct Geran-5 type jet drones and ballistic missiles at the capital.