[Goose]

Ukraine should use their cell network to track fast-moving devices moving in fairly straight lines at altitude (if the cell towers can retain the timing data and perform the same calculations in reverse).  That should help them track drones...but whether you can use that as fire-control data is another question.

Unfortunately that can only be done if the drone is "registered", which it seldom has reason to do. When it does, it would be in order to make a very short call. As I understand it, the Ukraine uses GSM almost exclusively. Easy, well understood case. Cell tower hardware as designed can to some degree track your cell phone when it is "registered" with the network. However, the tower doesn't actually care much about your relative bearing (like 120 degree sectors). It cares about your range. That allows cell towers to "find" lost or injured people in some cases, but only if 3 or more cells can "see" you. Some cell towers do use "smart" (adaptive) antennas that could yield a "coarse" bearing. AFAIK there is no way to get that information. I assume Russia is smart enough not to allow a drone to "register" unless it really needs to do so. The cell system is not designed to deal with fast-moving (and certainly not airborne) customers. Cell towers OTOH do transmit as part of their normal operations. Depending on the system involved some towers transmit all the time. When you turn on your phone after going a long distance you will notice it takes "awhile" to find the network. It "looks" for a transmitting tower.

[Goose]

Ukraine should use their cell network to track fast-moving devices moving in fairly straight lines at altitude (if the cell towers can retain the timing data and perform the same calculations in reverse).  That should help them track drones...but whether you can use that as fire-control data is another question.

Unfortunately that can only be done if the drone is "registered", which it seldom has reason to do. When it does, it would be in order to make a very short call. As I understand it, the Ukraine uses GSM almost exclusively. Easy, well understood case. Cell tower hardware as designed can to some degree track your cell phone when it is "registered" with the network. However, the tower doesn't actually care much about your relative bearing (like 120 degree sectors). It cares about your range. That allows cell towers to "find" lost or injured people in some cases, but only if 3 or more cells can "see" you. Some cell towers do use "smart" (adaptive) antennas that could yield a "coarse" bearing. AFAIK there is no way to get that information. I assume Russia is smart enough not to allow a drone to "register" unless it really needs to do so. The cell system is not designed to deal with fast-moving (and certainly not airborne) customers. Cell towers OTOH do transmit as part of their normal operations. Depending on the system involved some towers transmit all the time. When you turn on your phone after going a long distance you will notice it takes "awhile" to find the network. It "looks" for a transmitting tower.