Аеростат Aerobavovna
The Ukrainian developer of military balloons, Aerobavovna is developing a system to counter «Shahed».
At the front, Aerobavovna’s balloons relay communications with drones, allowing them to hit targets at greater distances. They are capable of climbing hundreds of meters upwards, carrying a payload of up to 10 kg, and performing electronic warfare, tracking, and even intercepting drones. Their creators told the publication Frontliner about one of his latest developments.
The new unit is being created to intercepts «Shahed» — Iranian-Russian drones, which caused a lot of damage and took many lives during the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine. The authors do not specify, but it appears that they are referring to electronic warfare. The detection of enemy strike UAVs will be done using a thermal imaging camera. The company and its partners are also working on air defense systems, details of which are also unknown.
«We have been working for two years to make the balloons fly in all weather conditions. Now we are testing them in the most difficult situations», — says one of the developers.
Aerobavovna’s «Air» balloons are filled with helium and can stay in the sky for weeks. As the developers told the «Military» YouTube channel over a year ago, their work began with British balloons before they started creating their own. Last year, it was a new tool at the front, and the military did not quite know how to use it. The balloons are capable of providing communication at a distance of up to 100 km from a height of 300 meters, and the electronic components are powered from the ground, by a battery or generator.