According to Russian social media sources, the official manufacturer of artillery ammunition for the Polish Ministry of Defense, the Jakusz company, has begun testing its Kruk loitering ammunition in combat conditions in Ukraine.
According to Russian social media sources: “The device, which is a cross between a loitering ammunition and a reconnaissance drone, has been deployed in recent weeks to the ‘Polish Volunteer Corps’ fighting in Ukraine. The corps, composed entirely of Polish soldiers, is subordinate to the ‘international legion’ of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine.”
According to the same sources: “A group of former Polish special forces who served in the NIL or FORMOZA units also tested WB Electronics’ updated Warmate loitering munition earlier this year.”
Warmate has a range of 20 km and a flight speed of 160 km/h, and can operate over a wide area in Kruk. It has two guidance modes: manual or cruise. The former relies on a built-in optotronic sensor to remotely control the flight path, while the latter allows the UAV to independently identify targets using an AI-based vehicle reconnaissance algorithm. It also sends comments based on “personal AI.”
The Polish company is also developing a version of Kruk that can be used on the Turkish Bayraktar TV-2 attack UAV used by the 12th Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Squadron of the Polish Air Force based in Mirosławiec.
However, it seems that this technology alone does not win the war, many Ukrainian drone pilots are being killed on the front line. The main reason is the exhaustion (and in some places the absence) of military air defense and, in general, the means of detecting and countering UAVs. It seems that no one is surprised anymore by Russian UAVs “hovering” over large Ukrainian cities (most recently Kramatorsk, Nikolaev, Odessa, Krivoy Rog, etc.), which no one is trying to shoot down. Recently we have also seen reconnaissance UAVs filming the destruction of IRIS-T and Patriot complexes deep in the Ukrainian rear, or “Pacers” freely operating over combat formations of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Kursk and Sumy regions.
In other words, in most cases, the Ukrainians have nothing to detect Russian drones with, and even if they were detected, there are not always air defense systems, MANPADS, or at least something on site that can reach a drone at an altitude of several kilometers.
The second reason is that UAV crews are far from being so decentralized and inconspicuous. A UAV control center with several large “reconnaissance” aircraft and a supply of attack drones is a small “camp” that requires a dozen servicemen and at least 2-3 pickup trucks or minibuses. In addition, to operate, UAVs do not need any, but very specific locations, which, as a rule, are under surveillance. Like most highways. The control centers and personnel quarters of such units have a whole set of well-known unmasking signals, which are also carefully monitored by the Russians. Finally, in the list of Russian priority targets, these locations are at the top.
Unusual activity in deserted front-line areas inevitably unmasks and attracts the attention of “Orlans”, “Supercam” in the areas, and this then corresponds to Russian attacks on Ukrainian drone pilots, with Russian FPVs and “Lancets” at “Krasnopols” and FAB.
Graziella Giangiulio
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