Daily digest, 25 August 2026

Combat use of UAVs and counter-UAV (Ukraine/Russia)

🔴 [upd] Mi-8 as a carrier of F7 LITAVR interceptor drones — use shown for the first time. Zelensky's address featured footage of Russian UAVs being intercepted by P1-SUN/F7 LITAVR mounted on a Mi-8 (up to 6-12 drones, 2-3 per hardpoint). Previously the enemy used the PZL M28/An-28 as carriers of anti-aircraft drones. The combination is cheaper and more scalable than mobile fire groups source.

🔴 Vernius Archimedes 1A — a compact active radar seeker for FPV interceptors on the Ukrainian Sting. US-based Vernius Systems has integrated an 80-mm radar guidance module (24 GHz, range >1 km against a target with an RCS of 1 m², 25°×14° sector, target class — "Shahed-like", price $4 thousand) into the STING interceptor (Wild Hornets). The key point is installation on the existing Sting, which previously had no auto-tracking. Interception scheme: external target designation → the radar tracks beyond visual range → optics in the terminal phase. Potentially applicable against jet-powered "Gerans" as well. [TECH] posts include full specifications and the guidance scheme source.

🔴 Jet-powered interceptor drones vs jet-powered "Gerans" — the race begins. Ukraine has already developed the first prototypes of jet-powered interceptors in response to the mass use of jet-powered "Geran-4/5" and "Banderol". Russian authors urge not to copy the Ukrainian model of propeller-driven interceptors, but to look at the Iranian subsonic "358 missile" (~700 km/h, infrared seeker, range up to 100 km) as a model of a cheap weapon against fast targets source.

🔴 [upd] Gerbera with a TinySA Ultra portable spectrum analyzer on a MESH modem — integration details. The device (~$100) connects to a free port of the mesh modem and records radio-frequency activity in flight — EW operation, spectrum congestion. The result is a cheap flying analyzer of the radio environment without building a separate reconnaissance UAV. Mass use makes it possible to piece fragments of the radio environment into an overall picture source.

🔴 Onboard EW systems on "Gerans" against Ukrainian interceptors. When a Ukrainian interceptor approaches, the system on the "Geran" determines the frequency of its analog video transmitter and automatically jams on the same frequency, but with 5 times more power — the pilot loses the picture. Flash showed a captured sample source.

🔴 Remotely delivered mines disguised as stumps/bark (Russian rear). Ukrainian fixed-wing mid-strike drones ("Backfire" from "Zli Ptakhy") and FPV drones based on 60-mm mines are used to mine rear-area roads. PTM-1L with an explosively formed penetrator and a magnetic fuze triggered by field change — detonates when approached with metal (car, motorcycle). Spotted in Belgorod Oblast source.

🔴 "Flying revolver" on Starlink 60 km from the line of contact. A Ukrainian FPV drone on a 15-inch frame with a Starlink terminal and a drum-type munitions-dropping unit was spotted operating 60 km from the line of contact. The Russian Armed Forces have an acute need for means of detecting UAVs with Starlink terminals source.

🔴 [upd] Baton — full specifications disclosed. A Ukrainian fixed-wing strike mid-strike drone with two electric motors: range up to 90 km, flight time up to 50 min, cruise speed 105 km/h (max 140), payload up to 3 kg, altitude 150-1500 m. Autonomous terminal guidance with target lock from 2 km/500 m, analog or digital video link, LTE and Starlink channels. Catapult launch, preparation ~15 min source.

🔴 [upd] Lucky Strike-1.5 — extended capabilities. An upgraded strike UAV from PG Robotics: payload up to 4 kg, range 10-17 km, flight 20-50 min, active cooling of the video system, up to 9 mines (3×3 cassettes/drum) for remote mining, an option of a four-barrel gun against personnel source.

🟢 "Malysh" — a new Russian fixed-wing anti-aircraft interceptor drone. A small drone of simple design with two electric motors and a VOG-25 warhead, named for its size. Handed over to Unmanned Systems Forces units of the "West" group of forces source.

🟢 "Astra-PVO" — camera footage. A Russian interceptor drone developed by a repair company of the 20th Combined Arms Army: speed up to 560 km/h (interception of any UAVs, including jet-powered ones), a strike version exists source.

🟢 Control unit for several "Kurier" UGVs — trials. A Russian control unit operates two or three "Kurier" UGVs at once with remote fire ("Pecheneg", AGS-17, twin "Kord"+PKT). The turret can be removed and mounted on a pickup/concrete base; the control unit is universal and suitable for FPV drones source.

🟢 [upd] Lancet with AI guidance via the "Orion" relay. "Orion" has become a mesh-network relay for long-range Russian strikes, including the first "Lancet" strike on Kyiv (May 2026). A two-seat version of the Su-57 is being developed, in which the second pilot controls S-70 and "Orion" strike UAVs source.

USV carriers and naval drones

🟢 The "Mayachnya"/"Illyuziya" project — a network of radio beacons for USV navigation in the Black Sea without satellite communications. An autonomous network of radio beacons on the Skyline platform has been deployed along the coast from Ochakiv/Izmail to Izmail. Backup power, a centralized network — operators track drones and ensure their return in case of GNSS loss. Implemented by the 12th Special Purpose Center, "TechnoTaras" and the Prytula Foundation. A Russian analysis notes: the interception target in the coastal strip is Ukrainian reconnaissance UAVs acting as mesh-network relays source.

🔵 UFORCE Magura V11 (V version) — a carrier of interceptor drones. A new version of the Magura was shown at the parade in Kyiv, probably carrying up to 18 interceptor UAVs; the design differs from V5/W6P/V7 source.

Military AI, autonomy, cyber

🔴 First combat use of a Russian strike drone under full AI control. According to the NYT (via Meduza), a drone fully controlled by an experimental AI system killed three civilians in Zaporizhzhia source.

🟢 Avengers AI Labs — Britain gets access to the Ukrainian combat data base. The Zelensky-Burnham agreement: London will become the first foreign partner of the Avengers AI Labs platform (developed by the team behind "Delta"/DELTA). The base — ~5 million labeled frames (tanks, artillery, air defense, personnel, aerial targets from UAVs). The automatic recognition system analyzes >100 thousand video streams monthly and detects ~70% of targets, including at night. Pilots with Sintela, Mind Foundry, Skyral: turning fiber-optic cables into a distributed network of AI sensors + low-power AI processors for UAVs source.

🟢 [TECH] Project Griffin IRON — the US Army orders an autonomous agentic AI cyber defense system. Call for Solutions (deadline 27.08.2026): IRON as a decision-making node in the cyber defense of the DoWIN network — receiving alerts from SIEM/sensors, autonomous threat validation, choice of response tool, issuing commands. 7 workflows: automatic traffic blocking, detection of C2 beaconing via Zeek/DNS with host isolation, proactive CVE patching via Nessus+Ansible. Autonomy within Tier 1-4 thresholds, kill switch in 5 sec, automatic rollback. Integration with Elastic, Zeek, Nessus, Defender, Intune, Tychon EDR, ServiceNow source.

🔴 [TECH] Fred Cohen's patent — automating cognitive warfare through generative AI. The author of the term "computer virus" (1984), associated with DARPA/Sandia, has patented a closed-loop behavior control pipeline: collecting data on the target (social media, voice, sensors) → cognitive assessment (sentiment, hidden emotions) → choice of trigger → AI meme generation → delivery → measuring the reaction → repeat. It combines the legacy of DARPA ADAMS (psychometric profiling) and SMISC (delivery of "info viruses"). It removes hundreds of analysts — the entire cycle is autonomous source.

🔴 Laser weapon in a backpack (Russian Armed Forces). A portable 1 kW laser system with a power source in the operator's backpack: silent burn-through, manual/remote mode, range 50-100 m. The main purpose is neutralizing booby traps (burning through the casing in ~4 sec). The same principle as on the "Kurier" UGV (with the laser raised — up to 500 m). A serial model has been announced source.

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Priority 2. Military innovation (Ukraine, Europe, NATO)

🇺🇦 The world's first parade of unmanned systems in Kyiv. On Khreshchatyk — UGVs ("Rys", Droid TW, TerMIT), on the Dnipro — USVs (Magura, Sargan-3000, SeaBaby), in the sky — mothership drones for FPV, reconnaissance UAVs, interceptors. For the first time UGVs, USVs and UAVs that have operated in service autonomously and under control were shown en masse source.

🇺🇦🇫🇮 [upd] Tencore + Insta — a JV in Finland for 320 TerMIT 2.0. The first target is 320 systems at Finnish facilities. The TerMIT 2.0 range has grown from 20 to 40 km, max speed from ~7-8 to 15 km/h. Over the year Tencore delivered >2 thousand UGVs to the Ukrainian military — localization in Finland becomes a stage of scaling up source.

🇺🇦🇫🇮 "General Cherry" + Patria — a memorandum on joint drone production in Finland. Combining Patria's production base (>100 years of experience) with Ukrainian expertise in FPV combat use source.

🇺🇦 Swarmer — founding partner of Vectus Air Defense (US). Swarmer receives 20% of the shares of the air defense company for critical infrastructure and is working on swarm interception of drones source.

🇺🇸 The US is adopting the Ukrainian model of mass drone production. Ukraine will produce ~6-7 million FPV drones in 2026, while the Drone Dominance program will order <200 thousand by February 2027. The gap is not in technology but in procurement: Ukrainian FPV drones at $300-500 are assembled by small workshops; the American system is oriented toward expensive complex weapons + a requirement for a fully American supply chain (no Chinese motors/batteries). Six Ukrainian manufacturers (F-Drones, General Cherry) are setting up JVs with American companies (Ohio, New Hampshire) source.

🇺🇦 DETECT GROUP SEEKLEVEL — a direction finder for enemy EW, has passed combat trials. A module for detecting enemy EW sources source.

🇺🇦 Intel Dron — an ecosystem of AI solutions from a small team. "Romashka" (object detector on video), "Beryoza" (auto-hold/relay), "Belena" (GNSS anti-spoofing), "Durman" (electronic jamming of video links), "Repey" (terminal guidance), an interception module, a frequency calculator. A comprehensive "all-in-one" ecosystem for UAV crews source.

🇷🇺 "Signal-M2" (NPO "KILOVATT") — a drone detector with automatic EW activation. 24/7 scanning, works with analog and digital signals, automatically engages an EW station for suppression. Installed on vehicles and fixed sites source.

🇷🇺 Serial carbon-fiber frames — 60 thousand sets/month. "Uralkhimapparat" + OKB "Valkiriya": frames for 8-17″ FPV drones, hexa-/octocopters, "Viverna" platforms, frames for interceptors. Import substitution of Chinese frames; the lineup includes "Viverna-Kogot" interceptors (up to 300 km/h, interception at up to 3 km) source.

🇩🇰🇸🇪 Denmark and Sweden — new combat clothing kits based on Crye Precision solutions source.

🇯🇵 Japan — a new gun-missile air defense system against small UAVs on a single self-propelled platform: missile system + gun mount + laser source.

🇺🇦 [upd] Storm Shadow/SCALP — Britain has approved technology transfer. Burnham confirmed in Kyiv the declassification of MBDA data on British components to organize assembly in Ukraine. Part of the chain previously locked by London's consent (due to the shared Franco-British design). Complements Project Brakestop. Skepticism: American components, lack of capacity, uncertain timelines source.

🇬🇧 OptiArray sonar on civilian vessels. Britain is considering equipping civilian vessels with Optics11 portable fiber-optic sonars (a towed acoustic sensor, detection of submarines/ships at >60 miles). Expands monitoring of the Russian fleet without specialized anti-submarine ships source.

🇺🇸 Saildrone + Lockheed Martin — first live JAGM launches from a USV. At RIMPAC the 20 m uncrewed boat Surveyor launched two JAGM missiles at a surface target with external target designation + passive ELINT detected an enemy radar. The next stage is the Saildrone Spectre (52 m, ~300 t, up to 30 knots, up to five 20-ft containers, Mk 70 launcher) source.

🇵🇱🇳🇴🇱🇻🇱🇹 Piorun — a framework agreement worth ~$2.1 billion. The Polish Armament Agency and Mesko: several thousand Piorun MANPADS (a Grom upgrade) for Poland (~80%), Norway, Latvia, Lithuania through 2030 (SAFE financing). The largest contract in the program's history source.

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Priority 3. Conflict development and forecast signals

• Strikes shifting from Wildberries to Ozon — the macroeconomic level. Overnight 4-5 Ozon hubs were attacked (Krasnodar, Adygea/Enem, Nevinnomyssk, Makhachkala/Tyube), totaling >300 thousand m². Ozon shares fell as much as -28%. Krutov/NASA satellites record the complete burnout of three hubs. Analysis: the goal is to disrupt dual-use logistics in southern Russia (short leg via Turkey/Georgia/Armenia, proximity to bases). Logically, energy is next, ahead of winter.

• Decree No. 604 — forcing businesses into self-defense under threat of seizure. A legal conflict: responsibility for protection against UAVs is placed on owners, but there is no regulatory framework for building protective structures; there is a risk of the mechanism being used to redistribute assets. Critics note: even when owners want to protect themselves, contractors shy away because of vague liability for an alarm that fails to work.

• The gasoline economic effect of Ukrainian strikes. By estimates, production of high-octane gasoline in Russia has fallen by 25-30% while holding at that level; fresh strikes on the Perm refinery (main unit — repairs 1-2 weeks, ~14% of capacity remains), the Afipsky refinery, the "Kamensky Combine".

• "Hunting for launchers" — a new Ukrainian operation. Zelensky announced the start of an operation to destroy Russian ballistic missile launchers, with first results. A shift in strategy from passive air defense to a counter-battery approach against missile systems.

• Mobilization signal in Russia. Zelensky: Russia may mobilize 300 thousand in 2026 after the elections. In parallel — a planted report on the mobilization of women in Ukraine (Kellogg), which is rather an indicator of the AFU manpower shortage.

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What's new in UAVs and counter-UAV

• Vernius Archimedes 1A ($4 thousand) — active radar seeker for FPV interceptors against "Shahed-like" and jet-powered "Gerans"

• Mi-8 as a carrier of F7 LITAVR/P1-SUN (6-12 interceptors)

• Jet-powered interceptors (Ukraine) — prototypes against jet-powered "Gerans"

• Onboard EW on "Gerans" against interceptors' video links (×5 power)

• "Malysh" (Russia) — fixed-wing anti-aircraft drone with VOG-25

• Baton — specifications disclosed (90 km, Starlink/LTE)

• Control unit for 2-3 "Kurier" UGVs with remote fire

• "Signal-M2", SEEKLEVEL — drone/EW detectors

• Russian carbon-fiber frames — 60 thousand/month

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Military space and space-derived data

🔵🇷🇺 Soyuz-2.1b launch with a military satellite from Plesetsk. On August 24 at 5:40 a combat crew of the Space Forces of the Aerospace Forces put into orbit a spacecraft for the Russian MoD; characteristics and orbit were not disclosed source.

🔵🇩🇪 Germany is considering equatorial sites for launching military satellites. The Bundeswehr plans constellations of several hundred satellites in low/medium/geostationary orbits; the constraint is launching heavy geostationary spacecraft. The main option is Kourou (French Guiana, ~5° N), an increase in launch frequency is being discussed source.

🔵🇷🇺 A second Il-976 SKIP on Novaya Zemlya — "Burevestnik" telemetry. Western observers: a second Il-976 SKIP arrived at Rogachevo air base (between August 22-23); on August 22 one SKIP flew a flight telemetry collection mission. The flight duration of the "Burevestnik" ground-launched cruise missile probably requires two SKIPs without refueling source.

Data access: OSINT researcher Marcin Rogowski recorded traces of burning at Vityazevo airfield in satellite imagery (parking spots of a MiG-29 and an "Orion" — destruction/damage); Radio Liberty confirmed the burnout of Ozon hubs (Enem, ~⅔ of Chapayevsk, ~50 thousand m²) source.

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Under the radar

🟢 [TECH] Sine Engineering B5 — captured Ukrainian secure communications with frequency hopping. sine.link beacons for "Pasika" group control form distributed positioning from the signals of nearby nodes; the modems have been seen with B5 (500-1010 MHz) and a TBS Diamond antenna in Fire Point strike airframes source.

🟢 [TECH] Elsight Halo + CRE2-144-LW-NAV on the FP-2. An analysis of two communication solutions on Ukrainian fixed-wing FP-2 mid-strike drones: CRE2-144-LW-NAV and Elsight Halo with Telit LE910C4 (VoLTE/3G/2G) and Variscite DART-MX8M-MINI modules, often paired with Starlink source.

🟢 [upd] "Begemot" has become a serial Ukrainian mid-strike drone. The mid-strike drone from GLEFA and Culver Aerospace with a 75 kg warhead has entered serial production and is being purchased by a charitable foundation; it was used against the bridge between Crimea and Kherson Oblast source.

🟢 [TECH] AgilePE — research on autonomous drone-on-drone pursuit. Both drones were trained in simulation, the algorithm was transferred to real quadcopters without fine-tuning (lateral jerks, getting behind the pursuer). Limitations: one-on-one, no obstacles, coordinates from an external camera system — no independent detection yet source.

🟢 Self-cooling motor for UAVs ("Skolkovo"). The cooling system is built into the outer rotor: radial channels act as a centrifugal fan. No radiators, composites + 3D printing. A patent has been granted source.

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And what about our Chinese comrades?

🇨🇳 CH-4 spotted in Chad. At Abeche air base at least three assembled Chinese "Caihong-4" strike-reconnaissance UAVs were recorded for the first time. N'Djamena has not officially announced the purchase — their presence confirms the delivery and the expansion of China's presence in the African strike UAV market source.

🇨🇳 Type 054B (third frigate) — armament configuration confirmed. A high-quality photo shows a 48-cell VLS for anti-aircraft and anti-ship missiles source.

🇨🇳 Type 004 — China's largest aircraft carrier, ~320 m, nuclear power plant + 4 electromagnetic catapults. Follow-up satellite reconnaissance (Vantor) confirms the intensification of work at the shipyard in Dalian; estimated displacement 110-120 thousand t source.

🇨🇳 Chinese and Egyptian Air Force exercise "Eagles of Civilization-2026". Involved are the KJ-500 (AEW), Y-9LG (EW), J-16 against Egyptian Rafales. A ~6000 km J-16 ferry flight with refueling from a YY-20A — practicing power projection over intercontinental distances source.

🇨🇳 Tienkung robot — 400 m in 38.15 sec, 100 m in 9.39 sec (faster than Bolt's record). The second Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing; long jump of 7.97 m. Epic progress in a year — among other things, a bid to nullify some engineering protection measures source.

🇨🇳 J-10CE for the Uzbekistan Air Force — first photos. Footage has appeared of Chinese J-10CE fighters in Uzbek livery source.

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External analysis

• Saab A3-001 — a supersonic unmanned wingman for the KFS program. At the air show in Linköping a full-size mockup of the A3-001 was shown (at least 6 concepts together with FMV): EW, suppression of air defenses, precision strikes, stealth, autonomy. Demonstrator flights by 2030, the system in the mid-2030s to complement the Gripen. External analysis records what the TG circuit covered only in general terms: Sweden is building a mixed manned-unmanned architecture source.

• Skepticism about UAV "affordable mass" (Defence-UA). Building up hundreds of strike drones without solving the problems of control, communications and integration into combat formations does not automatically give a tactical advantage — numbers alone are not a panacea. An important counterpoint to the enthusiasm of the Ukrainian-Russian circuit about "drone armies" source.

• Valkyrie CCA — successful beyond-line-of-sight control handover under EW conditions (The Defense Post). A US Marine took control of the Valkyrie after takeoff, control was handed over from the Kratos ground station to the Autonodyne interface. Validation of the C2 link for BLOS — practical progress in integrating unmanned wingmen into formations with manned aviation source.

• Swarmer — an OS for drone swarms (Alex Fink interview). Each drone is an independent agent with decentralized decision-making (not "leader-followers"); communication via mesh with resilience to the loss of up to 90% of packets. The operator sets the mission through a simplified interface without interfering in task allocation. It solves the pilot shortage against the backdrop of 7 million drones/year source.

• APKWS II approved for Italy on the Eurofighter in the C-UAS role (Janes). FMS deal: 5031 WGU-59B/B guidance units for ~$364 million. Italy follows the UK; 9 more Eurofighter operators are interested. APKWS II is becoming the standard counter-drone solution for Eurofighter platforms in NATO source.

• Reform of UAV operator training in the PLA (81.cn). A "golden pilot" with perfect basic scores did not make the top — the weight of scores for air-ground interaction and tactical coordination has been increased. Mastery of the equipment without integration into a single combat chain is deemed insufficient. Shows the PLA's doctrinal shift toward network-centricity at the level of personnel training source.

Top military-tech signals of the day

1. ↗138 · 👁1838 · @darpaandcia — Generative AI and the digital virus of consciousness: Fred Cohen's patent and the automation of co…
2. ↗39 · 👁746 · @uavural — Attention rear areas!!! A UAV for remote mining has been spotted, t…
3. ↗15 · 👁399 · @theaterVD — 🧍🇵🇱🇳🇴🇱🇻🇱🇹 Poland, Norway, Latvia and Lithuania have concluded a framework agreement for the sup…
4. ↗216 · 👁5920 · @FPV_vyZOV — Attention rear areas!!! A UAV for remote mining has been spotted, t…
5. ↗18 · 👁495 · @theaterVD — 🇺🇦🇬🇧🇫🇷🇩🇪🇫🇮 The "coalition of the willing" is ramping up military and energy support for Ukr…
6. ↗24 · 👁687 · @mil_hub — Wow, Habr has posted a guide on how to build your own Wi-Fi radar! 🤯 You'll ne…
7. ↗463 · 👁13737 · @kcpn2014 — How to find a person. "Starting points". Enemy OSINT. Lesson 5 🔔Analytical ce…
8. ↗24 · 👁743 · @mil_hub — The Russian Armed Forces now have a laser weapon that runs on a power source in a backpa…
9. ↗12 · 👁400 · @aiobor — The US Army has announced a Call for Solutions for Project Griffin / IRON (Intelligent Res…
10. ↗14 · 👁474 · @RuporOfBattle — 📣📣📣📣📣📣 And here comes the video!!! (to the post above) Fuck, dangerous stuff. Don't even kno…