Russian military bloggers report new “Susanin” guidance system for Shahed drones

Russia’s army has begun using a new guidance system called “Susanin” on Shahed strike drones, which plots the UAV’s route by orienting itself to the Earth’s surface.

This is being reported by Russian military Telegram channels, while Ukrainian Telegram channels are publishing footage from launch sites and fragments of unmanned aerial vehicles equipped with the system.

According to available information, the “Susanin” autonomous optical navigation system allows targets to be struck even when communication with the operator is interrupted and there is no GPS signal.

Russian military correspondent Andrei Filatov described how the system works and the context of its use:

“There is now a navigation system called ‘Susanin’ that works by reference to the underlying surface — Ukrainian special services know about it and are actively searching for its creator. It allows ‘Geraniums’ to fly without radio beacons, orienting by the underlying surface. A major threat to the ‘Geraniums’ right now is the FPV air defense that Ukraine has built. It is a multi-layered, echeloned defense. But after breaking through the first 100 kilometers from the line of contact, the ‘Geraniums’ fly on relatively calmly — that is, there are relatively few shoot-downs,” — Filatov writes.

Thus, according to the military correspondent, the main threat to the drones is concentrated in the first hundred kilometers from the line of contact, where Ukraine has built a multi-layered, echeloned FPV air defense. After crossing that threshold, the “Geraniums” fly relatively unimpeded.

Against the backdrop of intensifying Russian air attacks, the Ukrainian Armed Forces are awaiting deliveries of jet-powered interceptor drones.