Armed Conflict — 2026-11-03

Russia Fitting Drones With Larger Antennas to Beat Ukrainian Electronic Warfare Jamming

BLUFRussia's antenna upgrades are shifting the cost curve against Ukraine, forcing expensive expansions of electronic-warfare infrastructure just to maintain a jamming capability that drones increasingly evade.

Ukrainian electronic-warfare adviser Serhii "Flash" Beskrestnov reported that Shaheds carrying 32-element satellite-navigation antennas, up from 16 elements previously, are attacking Kyiv 12. Photos he published on September 30 showed a 32-element CRPA antenna from a Geran-4, which The Insider found resembles a Harxon design and bears "ALB" markings pointing to the Alabuga plant 3. Ukraine's military intelligence agency HUR said on October 19 that Russia uses 16-element Kometa arrays at scale and is setting up serial production of 20-element arrays 2. Beskrestnov said Ukraine must now double the EW sources around each drone from 16 1, while Night Watch commander Alkhimik said a captured 32-element unit is two 16-element arrays covering separate bands and can be jammed with L1 and L2/L5 systems 2.

Analysis
Russia has deployed 32-element anti-jamming antennas on Shaheds over Kyiv, forcing Ukraine's layered jamming to cover roughly twice as many signal sources around each drone. Cost favors Moscow: adding elements is cheaper than building EW sites, and drones that clear jamming push defenders toward costlier interceptors, jets and missiles. Counters exist. A captured unit was two 16-element arrays on separate bands, which dual-band L1 and L2/L5 jamming can address, and spoofing can feed false coordinates. Harxon-style design and Alabuga markings point to localized production of Chinese-derived parts, and HUR says 20-element serial production is being set up. Confidence is high, given consistent reporting from three outlets, two primary, and photographs of a recovered antenna. Deployment scale rests largely on one adviser, though, and the 32-element unit may be a limited trial batch, since serial production centers on 16- and 20-element designs.

3 sources