As reported by the MILITARIST Telegram channel, Thor Dynamics is currently testing its counter-UAV products in Ukraine. The company is experimenting with a number of new tools, incorporating laser technology and artificial intelligence (AI) components.
In the coming months, these could revolutionize counter-UAV warfare and render obsolete many electronic warfare systems currently deployed on the front lines, such as portable frequency jammers. These systems are struggling to provide Ukrainian soldiers with complete protection against attacks by Russian FPV drones.
Thor is testing three technologies in western Ukraine. The main one is a derivative of the Mirador Mk2-Electro-Optical Tracking system developed for the Thales surveillance system. This device identifies and targets multiple drone threats using artificial intelligence embedded in electro-optical sensors. It is combined with a second technology—a tripod-mounted 2kW Thor laser system that remotely targets, burning out their internal circuitry.
The latest innovation tested, Thor C2, oversees all counter-UAV operations. It is a data fusion platform that synthesizes operational information collected by the Thor 2kW systems’ video sensors. It automatically prioritizes and assigns targets for laser neutralization devices.
These new technologies are designed to address the main challenge that has arisen in Ukraine since May: finding a way to counter massive Russian attacks using FPV drones or Lancet loitering munitions.
These devices are increasingly operating autonomously thanks to artificial intelligence algorithms that self-lock and become immune to jammers in the final stages of an attack or use frequency demodulation technologies.
In both cases, they become particularly difficult to intercept with conventional electronic warfare systems, which can only simultaneously jam a few frequencies within a limited perimeter.
Thor Dynamics is headed by Gleb Chuvpilo, a former employee of the American data processing company Palantir, who holds Ukrainian and American passports. Chuvpilo is well-connected in Ukraine with Digital Transformation Minister Mykhailo Fedorov through his Brave 1 defense cluster, which gives him access to certain Ukrainian counter-UAV units where he can test his equipment.
He co-founded Thor with French-Spanish engineer Olivier Garcia, a specialist in airborne robotics and artificial intelligence who has worked at Thales and KNDS.
This isn’t Thor’s first foray into counter-UAV warfare. Some of its laser detection and ranging (lidar) and laser technologies have been integrated into the DRS combat management system developed by the Italian company Leornardo, the Silent Sentinel anti-UAV system from Motorola, and the remote-controlled turrets of Nimr armored vehicles developed by the UAE-based parastatal EDGE Group.
