DONETSK, December 23. /TASS/. The Ukrainian armed forces have intensified the use of short-range UAVs and frequency hopping in the Krasnoarmeysk and Gulyaipole sectors to evade Russian electronic warfare (EWF) systems, the Russian company developer of the "Tyen" (Shadow) drone detector told TASS.

"The enemy is indeed trying to shift its focus toward short-range UAVs, and this is not a random trend, but a deliberate adaptation to the conditions of electronic warfare in the special military operation zone. In several sectors of the front, particularly in the Krasnoarmeysk direction and in the Zaporozhye direction near Gulyaipole, the enemy has been testing and partially using pseudorandom operational frequency readjustment, or frequency hopping, for some time now," the company said.

It noted that such steps are an attempt by the enemy to complicate the operation of radio reconnaissance and electronic countermeasures, reduce the time of reliable detection, and increase the survivability of the command and control channel. "However, frequency hopping is not a panacea: using a comprehensive approach to airwave monitoring and anomalous activity analysis, such drones are still detected, particularly if not a single frequency, but a wide range of frequencies is used," the experts added.

The Ukrainian armed forces also employ a "waiting drone" tactic in which small drones are delivered to the target area in advance and activated later. Such drones can be deployed virtually anywhere, for example, in a forested area or at an infrastructure facility.

"Activation occurs later, upon operator command or event-triggered, which significantly reduces their radio emissions in the passive phase and complicates detection by traditional means. In fact, this is an element of a reconnaissance and strike system with delayed deployment. Taken together, these factors indicate that the enemy is relying not on range, but on the mass production, stealth, and tactical flexibility of UAVs," the developers said.

Under these conditions, early detection based on a combination of indicators is essential, including spectrum analysis, detection of short-term activations, network correlation, and integration with other surveillance systems. "It is a systemic approach, rather than targeting individual drone types, that is today the determining factor in the effectiveness of UAV countermeasures," the company said.