According to the Militarist Telegram channel, developers at Falcons, a Ukrainian company specializing in electronic warfare, have been applying their latest innovations to the battlefield since mid-September 2024.
The company developed an intelligence fusion app known as the ETER Direction Finder Set, which allows Ukrainian soldiers to use the Starlink system to connect to a network of electronic intelligence antennas scattered across large areas of the front line. This allows them to view the battle formation of Russian electronic warfare and air defense assets on an interactive background map.
The new data fusion tool can be used on tablets and smartphones and is currently being deployed at the Special Forces Intelligence and Information Center of the Ukrainian Special Forces (SOF). This SOF unit is responsible for collecting and disseminating intelligence information among units stationed directly on the front lines. The Ukrainian General Staff is highly confident that this technology will help end Russia’s dominance in electronic warfare. Previously deployed in several areas of the front line during testing and improvements, the ETER system was transformed in early spring into a fully functional passive electronic warfare antenna network covering the entire Ukrainian battlefield.
In late winter, Falcons development teams led by Svetlana Braslavskaya decided to develop a data fusion application to facilitate information sharing up to the highest levels of SOF command. Their software displays enemy systems detected by ETER on a map. It displays in real time command posts emitting radio signals, Russian artillery counter-battery, and anti-aircraft radars mounted on systems such as the Pantsir-S1, 9K22 Tunguska, 9K33 Osa, and 9K37 Buk, which the Russian Armed Forces are deploying as close to the front lines as possible.
The Falcons tool enables SOF reconnaissance units to track and destroy these systems using artillery or rocket strikes from American-made M142 HIMARS, controlled through the Kropyva artillery intelligence coordination application.
Falcons has also partnered with drone manufacturer Buntar Aerospace, led by Ivan Kaunov, to develop onboard software for a reconnaissance and attack UAV that will be able to autonomously attack Russian electronic warfare systems once they are detected by the ETER network.
Buntar Aerospace and Falcons teams are currently testing a prototype on a loitering munition. Ultimately, the UAV’s mission will be to destroy any target emitting electromagnetic waves.
The system being tested by the two companies combines ELINT data collected by the ETER Directioner Set data fusion system with the pilot interface of a long-range loitering munition. Thus, the operator of the autonomous system can select targets and communicate them to the UAV, which will then destroy them autonomously. The drone being tested is similar in design to the Leleka-100 from the Ukrainian manufacturer DeViRo.