https://www.yahoo.com/news/russians-call...47360.html
Ukraine has shown great ability to improvise methodology to cause Russia at least annoying and in some cases significant damage in the Sevastopol area. The "low observable" drone ships and now this attack on oil storage facilities are just a sample of what Ukraine can continue to do. Russia has deployed considerable forces to defend against the drone ships, and are doing a credible job of it. However, it isn't a "perfect" screen and uses up considerable force. Now Ukraine has shown it can hit individual high-value targets, although oil storage tanks are at least a "large" target.
The question of the moment is what methodology is Ukraine using to control these drones? It is possible that a GPS/GLONASS based approach would work. However, I assume that GPS is being jammed all the time in Sevastopol, and I am guessing GLONASS has the equivalent of the GPS Selective Availability and that it is functioning in that mode when "near" Ukraine. Supposedly Ukraine can't use the SpaceX StarLink system any more to locate and control drones at this distance. They must be doing something, and Russia hasn't yet figured it out. Very interesting. Are they buying bandwidth from somebody else?
UPDATE: GLONASS broadcasts two navigation signals all the time, one civil and one military. The civil version is not precise enough to use as a navigation/targeting system for drones, at least in theory. It will get you close, like maybe within 10 meters or so. That is probably "good enough" to hit an oil tank most of the time, but not e.g. a car or an IFV. That is also "best case". The military one is encrypted and is precise. How precise "we" don't know. Presumably, Ukraine can't decode the military one.
Ukraine has shown great ability to improvise methodology to cause Russia at least annoying and in some cases significant damage in the Sevastopol area. The "low observable" drone ships and now this attack on oil storage facilities are just a sample of what Ukraine can continue to do. Russia has deployed considerable forces to defend against the drone ships, and are doing a credible job of it. However, it isn't a "perfect" screen and uses up considerable force. Now Ukraine has shown it can hit individual high-value targets, although oil storage tanks are at least a "large" target.
The question of the moment is what methodology is Ukraine using to control these drones? It is possible that a GPS/GLONASS based approach would work. However, I assume that GPS is being jammed all the time in Sevastopol, and I am guessing GLONASS has the equivalent of the GPS Selective Availability and that it is functioning in that mode when "near" Ukraine. Supposedly Ukraine can't use the SpaceX StarLink system any more to locate and control drones at this distance. They must be doing something, and Russia hasn't yet figured it out. Very interesting. Are they buying bandwidth from somebody else?
UPDATE: GLONASS broadcasts two navigation signals all the time, one civil and one military. The civil version is not precise enough to use as a navigation/targeting system for drones, at least in theory. It will get you close, like maybe within 10 meters or so. That is probably "good enough" to hit an oil tank most of the time, but not e.g. a car or an IFV. That is also "best case". The military one is encrypted and is precise. How precise "we" don't know. Presumably, Ukraine can't decode the military one.