ESM 우크라이나의 비행선 기반 패시브 ESM Aero Azimuth

[위종민]

우크라이나가 Aero Azimuth라는, 30~76m 크기의 풍선에 최대 40km 떨어진 러시아의 드론 제어용 무선신호를 탐지하는 SIGINT 장비를 운용하고 있다고 합니다. 비행선과의 통신은 유선이라 러시아가 탐지할만한 신호를 방출하지 않는다고 하네요. 전선 10~20km 후방에서 운용하고 운용고도는 700m 가량이라고 합니다. 

다른 기사에 따르면 전선 후방 9km 정도에 위치해 60km 가량 떨어진 전파를 잡아낼 수 있고 24~30km 정도의 거리에서 삼각측량이 가능하다고 하네요. 연료 무보급으로 7일 가량 체공이 가능하다고 합니다. 

Intelligence: Balloon Based Electronic Surveillance

Intelligence: Balloon Based Electronic Surveillance

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October 20, 2024: Ukraine is the latest country to adopt aerostat (aerodynamic unpowered blimp) systems that use a 30-76 meter long, helium filled, unmanned blimp equipped with radar and other sensors and equipment. The Ukrainian system is called Aero Azimuth. The system includes a trailer with a winch to quickly bring down the aerostat as well as tanks of helium gas to inflate the aerostat before deployment. The aerostat carries SIGINT (Signals Intelligence) equipment to detect the radio signals emitted by Russian drone operators up to 40 kilometers away. This information is quickly sent to nearby Ukrainian troops who can use either artillery or drones to attack the Russian positions. The Aerostat remains ten to 20 kilometers behind the front line. The aerostat can operate as 700 meters and emits no signals the Russian can use for target location. Communication with the aerostat is via the cable that tethers the aerostat to the equipment trailer.

These Ukrainian aerostats can remain aloft for up to seven days and carry a 25 kg payload of passive sensors to detect the controllers of Russian drones, especially FPV (First Person View) drones where the operator uses a headset and video game controls to see and maneuver their drone. The Ukrainian aerostat system allows the Russian FPV drone operators to be identified, located and attacked. The Russian response to the loss of drone operators is to move them further away from the front lines. This limits the effectiveness of Russian FPV drones because now they cannot operate very far into Ukrainian territory. The Russians can use their drones to attack the Aero Azimuth trailer and all its aerostat operating equipment but the Ukrainians would detect the approach of such an attack and move their aerostat equipment out of the way, Ukrainian also has anti-drone weapons that can destroy some or all of the attacking drones by jamming their control systems and causing them to crash. The United States has used aerostats in Iraq and Afghanistan and still has aerostats and related equipment. The Americans are sending Ukraine this equipment within six months and resuming the manufacture of such equipment. Aerostats have civilian applications and manufacturers are available to build more aerostats for Ukraine.

Modern aerostat systems have been around since the 1980s and have proliferated as more compact, lightweight and powerful sensors became available. The larger of these blimps are more than twice the size as the more familiar advertising blimps. An aerostat is designed to always turn into the wind and stay in the same place. An aerostat is unpowered, and secured by a cable that can keep the aerostat in position at its maximum altitude of 4,700 meters. At that altitude, a large aerostat can carry a two-ton payload. The cable also supplies power, which means the blimp can stay up for about 30 days at a time before it has to be brought down for maintenance on its radars. Often, two radars are carried. One is for surveillance; the other is a precision track and illumination radar (PTIR). The surveillance radar provides long-range coverage (400 kilometers or more), while the PTIR, which is a steerable system capable of tracking multiple targets, can focus on items of interest. Current aerostats carry a larger array of more capable sensors.

Aerostat systems cost varies from under $10 million, to over $100 million each, depending on the size of the aerostat and the capabilities of the radar and other sensors. Aerostats work. Kuwait had one in 1990, and the ground radar spotted the Iraqis as soon as they crossed the border. The U.S. uses dozens of aerostat systems in Iraq and Afghanistan to guard bases.

Israel is also a user and manufacturer of aerostat systems. In early 2022 Israel put its first Sky Dew aerostat system into service along its northern border, to detect Iranian air attacks using low, slow UAVs equipped with explosives and a GPS guidance system programmed to head for specific targets. Sky Dew carries radars and other sensors to monitor large land areas for low, slow intruders. Another Sky Dew was eventually installed in the south, along the Gaza border, where the threat is now worse because the Sunni Arab Hamas that rules Gaza is once again attacking Israel.

Sky Dew specifications were not revealed, apparently because it uses new sensors that can detect a lot more threats at greater distances and lower altitudes and speeds than previous systems could. Iran has been developing new aerial threats designed to get past many current air defense radars so not letting Iran know exactly what Sky Dew is capable of will give Iran a more difficult time evading it.

Sky Dew is not the first Israeli aerostat system. In 2005 an Israeli firm introduced a smaller aerostat system; the ELM 2083 that was a substitute, in performance, to an American AWACS (Air Warning and Control) aircraft. This aerostat was designed to spot aircraft up to 500 kilometers distant and at low and medium altitudes. Unlike Sky Dew, ELM 2083 was less effective at detecting very low and slow threats.

One example of the new generation of sensors for aerostats is the U.S. Army Starlite radar, which has been in use for over a decade. The AN/ZPY-1 Starlite lightweight radar weighs 29.5 kg, occupies 34 cc of space, uses 750 watts of power, and costs about $2.3 million each. Starlite can deliver photo quality black and white images of what is down there, in any weather. The army has developed software that enables the Starlite images to be transmitted to existing army video terminals and automatically appear on electronic versions of standard army maps. Starlite is used in combination with vidcams and infrared or thermal heat sensors. The Starlite software enables the operator to quickly, or automatically, point a video camera at anything Starlite can see.

Starlite was originally designed for use in the army's 1.5-ton MQ-1C Sky Warrior drone. While drones get more publicity, the army has found that its aerostats and tall towers also make good use of Starlite and do it a lot cheaper; under $1,000 an hour, mostly for maintenance, repairs, and personnel to monitor the sensors, and stay airborne nearly all the time. Compare this to Sky Warrior or Predator, which costs $6,000 an hour to fly. The stationary Starlites just need a way to keep an eye on a large area; like chunks of the Syrian, Iranian, or Pakistani border or the area surrounding a base 24/7.

Starlite thus became another component of the PTDS (Persistent Threat Detection Systems) that are mounted in the aerostats or towers. PTDS was developed because of the fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. In 2004 the U.S. Army sent 22 aerostat systems to Iraq and Afghanistan. The most common model of aerostats float at about 330 meters, tethered by a cable that provides power and communications to the day and night cameras, or Starlite radar, up there. The big problem was ground fire from rifles and machine guns. Hostile gunmen liked using the aerostats as targets. Rifle fire would not destroy the aerostats but did cause them to be brought down more frequently for repairs. Normally the aerostats can stay up for 30 days at a time but the bullet damage repairs have some of them coming down every few days. The PTDS surveillance systems mounted on tall steel towers also suffer gunfire damage but rarely any that disables the equipment.

The first army aerostats went to Iraq to help defend offshore oil facilities from attack by terrorist speedboats. Those early systems used a 75 meter long, helium filled, unmanned aerostat equipped with radar and other sensors. The U.S. Navy operated aerostat systems from ships to spot small boats over a large area around the vessel. Larger aerostats, like JLENS, were originally designed to detect cruise missiles and were soon replaced by smaller and cheaper aerostat systems currently in use.

Ukraine Develops Aero Azimuth Signal Intelligence System - Militarnyi

1 September, 2024Illustrative photo of the Aerobavovna aerostat. Photo credits: Volodymyr B./Militarnyi

Ukraine Develops Aero Azimuth Signal Intelligence System

Defense industry of Ukraine EW Ukraine

Ukrainian manufacturer of electronic warfare systems Kvertus has presented an airborne version of the Azimuth signal intelligence system.

This was reported by Militarnyi journalists who attended the “Protect Warrior from Drone” event.

The main task of the Aero Azimuth system is to detect the location of enemy drones for targeted strikes, aiming to disrupt or terminate their missions.

This approach focuses on neutralizing the drone’s external pilot and crew, who are more costly and time-consuming to train than the drone itself.

Aero Azimuth system on the Aerobavovna aerostat. Photo credits: Volodymyr B./Militarnyi

According to the developers, Aero Azimuth is to be deployed at a distance of 9 kilometers from the line of contact at a different range of low and medium altitudes.

It is worth noting that such a depth is quite insignificant at the current stage of the Russian-Ukrainian war, but given that this is a passive complex, its detection is possible only by means of optical reconnaissance, which is quite difficult at this distance, but still possible, especially given the current “drone air traffic.”

Kvertus representatives reported that when the aerostat was raised to an average flight altitude, it was possible to detect radio sources at a distance of 60 kilometers, and triangulate them at a distance of 24-30 kilometers.

The Aero Azimuth system is deployed on an aerostat manufactured by the domestic company Aerobavovna. The company’s aerostats can stay in the air without refueling for 7 days, withstand wind gusts of up to 15 meters per second, and lift payloads weighing 4 to 25 kilograms.

The optimum altitude for an aerostat is 300-700 meters.

In addition to the aerostat, the system includes a trailer equipped with a winch, a gas cylinder system, and the tools for repair and maintenance.

Aerostats’ advantage is that their ability to stay in the air for a long time makes it possible to organize a relatively inexpensive and dense system of aerial electronic, radar, or optical reconnaissance and create a network of signal repeaters.

Aerostats are a fairly common means of reconnaissance, and Militarny has already reported on the procurement and combat use of this type of aircraft, including by Russia.

It’s worth noting that during the Anti-Terrorist Operation in Donbas, the Armed Forces of Ukraine had a military unit specifically dedicated to handling aerostats.

[백선호]

전파를 잡기만 하고 내지 않으면 탐지되지 않을 수도 있겠네요. 커다란 레이다 전파 반사판도 아닐테고...

[위종민]

25kg짜리 장비라고 하니 네모난 상자에 막대형 안테나 정도 달려있지 않을까 싶기도.

소형 중국제 민수용 드론 조종신호 주파수나 특성은 다 알려져 있을 테니 해킹은 못해도 삼각측량 통해 위치는 찾아낼 수 있을 것 같네요.