A Ukrainian drone operator known by the call sign Mex says a recent long range strike on what appeared to be a Russian tank succeeded only because his aircraft relied on computer guided targeting after its signal link was disrupted.
Mex, a thirty one year old member of Ukraine’s Fifty Eighth Separate Rifle Brigade, described the twenty kilometre attack as something that would have been impossible using manual control alone. Without the added guidance, we simply could not hit it, he said. Absolutely no way.
The comments highlight how both Ukraine and Russia have shifted toward assisted targeting systems as electronic warfare spreads across the front. Millions of drones are produced yearly on each side, but signal jammers have made countless aircraft fall before reaching their objectives, according to reporting from Reuters and the BBC.
Ukrainian crews say the dense interference cloud near the front has created a constant risk of losing control mid flight. To compensate, some units now rely on drones that lock onto an image captured by the onboard camera and continue toward the chosen target even after the pilot loses contact.
Mex said the system on his drone carries its own memory bank containing previously learned images such as motorcycles and cars. If I set a pinpoint a few kilometres away during approach, it will adjust to it, he explained.
Ukrainian officials have insisted that all decisions to attack must remain with a human operator. The country has deployed dozens of such guidance systems and fitted them to thousands of drones, but military and industry figures note that the software’s effectiveness changes depending on weather, visibility and battlefield disruption.
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Russia has rolled out comparable tools, raising long running concerns among ethicists and international observers. Binding global rules on the use of computer guided weapons remain limited, and discussions continue in multilateral forums, including the United Nations.
The rapid evolution of unmanned aircraft has shaped the conflict since the first months of Russia’s full scale invasion in 2022. Ukraine has leaned heavily on small and mid sized attack drones to offset ammunition shortages, while Russia has continued to push mass production of its own models.
The struggle between interference and countermeasures is expected to intensify as winter fighting conditions worsen visibility and navigation. Ukrainian officers say further upgrades are under way to keep drones viable in an environment increasingly shaped by electronic disruption.
