Details have been shared with Armada regarding operating frequencies of uninhabited aerial vehicles used by Russian land forces occupying parts of Ukraine.
The Russian military is known to use several types of UAVs to support tactical and operational manoeuvre in the Ukrainian theatre of operations. These UAVs includes the Orlan-10, CH-3A, Forpost-R, CH-4B, Taxion, Eleron-3SV, Lancet, Zala, Kub, Granat-1/2/3/4, Merlin, Orion, Supercam-350, Mahajer-6, Zastava (a variant of the Israel Aerospace Industries Bird Eye UAV series) and Phantom. All these UAVs depend on a radio link connecting the aircraft to its Ground Control Station (GCS). These links share flight control and telemetry information between the GCS and aircraft. The links may also carry data collected by the UAV, such as imagery, with those who need this information.
Frequencies used by these aircraft stretch from 200 megahertz/MHz up to twelve gigahertz/GHz. The Ukraine conflict has seen both sides continually increasing the number of frequencies their UAVs can use. These changes reflect the realities of the ongoing counter-UAV battle in the electromagnetic spectrum. As a jammer becomes effective against a set of UAV frequencies, efforts will be taken to outflank these attacks. This action-reaction cycle cannot continue indefinitely. The aircraft have finite physical space for housing antennas which the limit antenna size, and hence frequency, the UAV can use. Power generation is limited by the aircraft’s battery life and powerplant, and the need to share electricity with other aircraft systems. Moreover, available power is governed by the range at which the aircraft needs to operate. In short, the frequencies the UAV uses will be a trade-off between practical antenna size, available power and operating range.
UHF frequencies
Several aircraft use Very/Ultra High Frequency (V/UHF: 30MHz to three gigahertz/GHz) links as follows:
- Orlan-10: 200MHz-450MHz, 867MHz-872MHz, 915MHz-920MHz, 860MHz-1.000GHz, 1.080GHz-1.300GHz, 2.200GHz-2.024GHz, 2.500GHz-2.700GHz
- CH-3A: 325MHz-390MHz, 520MHz-790MHz, 860MHz-930MHz, 1.420GHz-1.480GHz, 2.300GHz-2.650GHz
- Forpost-R: 465MHz-510MHz
- CH-4B: 800MHz-900MHz, 1.090GHz
- Taxion, Eleron-3SV: 867MHz-872MHz, 915MHz-920MHz, 1.205GHz-1.250GHz
- Lancet, Zala, Kub: 867MHz-872MHz, 902MHz-928MHz, 1.561GHz-1.575GHz, 1.597GHz-1.616GHz, 2.200GHz-2.400GHz
- Granat-1/2/3/4: 867MHz-872MHz, 900MHz-928MHz, 1.080GHz-1.280GHz, 2.300GHz-2.500GHz
- Merlin: 870MHz, 915MHz
- Orion: 890MHz-920MHz, 2.300GHz-2.400GHz
- Supercam-350: 976.5MHz-1.0215GHz, 1.0335GHz-1.11505GHz, 1.11055GHz-1.22225GHz
- Mahajer-6: 1.200GHz-1.600GHz
- Zastava: 2.200GHz-2.400GHz
- Phantom: 2.400GHz-2.483GHz
S-band and upwards
Several of these UAVs also use radio links outside these V/UHF wavebands. For example, the following UAVs use S-band (two gigahertz to four gigahertz), C-band (four gigahertz to six gigahertz) and X-band (eight gigahertz to twelve gigahertz) frequencies:
- Forpost-R: 4.400GHz-5.100GHz
- CH-4B: 4.200GHz-6.100GHz, 8.000GHz-12.000GHz
- Orion: 4.200GHz-5.700GHz
- Supercam-350: 11.775GHz
Whether these latter frequencies are for conventional radio links between the GCS and aircraft, or whether these links move across S-band, C-band and X-band satellite communications remains unknown.
The CH-3A, CH-4B and the Phantom UAVs are all produce by Chinese companies. Mahajer-6 UAVs are produced by the Islamic Republic of Iran. Thus, along with their Russian counterparts, it is entirely possible that these UAVs may be encountered in other operational theatres around the world using similar wavebands. Detecting these aircraft via their radio signals, and then defeating them via electronic attack, will be paramount.
by Dr. Thomas Withington
