Israel has declared war on the Palestinian militant group Hamas after it carried out an unprecedented attack by air, sea and land on October 7, 2023.
The large-scale surprise attack has left more than 1,200 dead in Israel, said Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus in an update on October 11. It has since prompted retaliatory Israeli airstrikes on Gaza that have killed more than 1,055 people.
During the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, the Middle East is witnessing a significant shift in the patterns of GPS interference, with data showing an increase in disruptions compared to just a week prior, according to Defence and Security Middle East.
Reports have surfaced indicating Hamas has actively jammed Israeli communication systems during the initial stages of the conflict. This strategic move highlights the increase of jamming GPS and communication networks in modern warfare scenarios, where precision and coordination are imperative.
Positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) services play a role in a variety of military systems and civil technologies. These services not only guide precision warfare, but also facilitate efficient transportation, communication and various civilian applications.
The Middle East has a history of being a focal point for jamming and spoofing activities, impacting not only security but also regional stability and even commercial flights.
For example, there have been recent reports of recurring interference allegedly caused by Russian systems in Syria, which frequently disrupts air traffic at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport. Regulatory bodies, such as the Federal Aviation Administration, the European Union Aviation Safety Agency, and Israel’s aviation authority, advised airlines to exercise caution when operating in the airspace of the region. Multiple airlines have now canceled or suspended flights.
With airlines reducing services and regulatory bodies advising caution, the conflict’s repercussions extend well beyond the battlefield, highlighting the critical need for security assessments or alternative PNT systems to protect civilians.
The Russian Federal Space Agency has launched one of its Glonass global positioning satellites, Glonass-K2 No. 13 (Kosmos 2569), into medium-Earth orbit (MEO) on August 7, at 13:20 UTC, reported Everyday Astronaut and Russian Space Web. The satellite was launched on the Soyuz 2.1b launch vehicle from Plesetsk Cosmodrome, in Russia.
Glonass-K2 No. 13 was launched to improve the accuracy of the Russian dual-use global positioning system. The K2 satellites are the fourth iteration in satellite design for GLONASS.
The new generation of satellites provide navigation accuracy of less than 30 cm and feature an unpressurized satellite bus (Ekspress-1000) manufactured by ISS Reshetnev. The satellites also use a novel navigation signal, code-protected selection, to transmit three signal types, including two in the L1 and L2 ranges for military users, and one channel in the L1 range accessible to the civilian users.
Each K2 satellite weighs 1,645 kg and has an operational lifetime of 10 years.
Ukraine’s allies in Europe are sending the country new UAVs and counter-UAV equipment, reported The Defense Post.
German weapons provider Rheinmetall is preparing to send its LUNA NG (next generation) unmanned reconnaissance UAV to Kyiv, the company announced August 14. The system should be delivered by the end of the year, according to Rheinmetall.
The LUNA NG is part of a sizable military aid package for Ukraine initiated by the German government in July. Per Rheinmetall, the package includes a ground control station and several UAVs, as well as a launch catapult, an optional net equipment for catching landing UAVs and equipment for rapid repair. The system is mounted on a Rheinmetall HX truck with a swap body system.
The UAV is designed for a range of mission-specific payloads — including LTE network and electronic warfare support measures such as detection, classification and analysis of electromagnetic radiation for threat detection.
UAV can remain aloft for more than 12 hours and maintain a datalink range of up to 100 kilometers normally, and up to 300 kilometers when fitted with optional satellite communication equipment, according to Rheinmetall.
The Bundeswehr (the German military) has operated LUNA UAV systems since the early 2000s. Those were originally developed by German manufacturer EMT Penzberg, which was acquired by Rheinmetall in 2021.
Berlin has already delivered several reconnaissance UAVs to Ukraine, including 88 Vector UAVs from Quantum Systems, 20 RQ-35 Heidrun systems Sky-Watch, and 32 unspecified reconnaissance UAVs, as of August 9.
Ukraine will also soon receive a series of Cortex Typhon counter-UAV systems made by Norway’s Kongsberg, after the company signed an agreement via the International Fund for Ukraine.
The delivery consists of several Cortex Typhon systems — developed to counter a wide spectrum of UAVs with solutions to either physically harm or disable an aerial threat, Kongsberg said.
Russia released a large number of attack UAVs targeting Kyiv, Ukraine, in the early morning of June 20, reported the New York Times. The UAV attack on Kyiv was the first in several weeks after Russian forces repeatedly targeted the city throughout May.
The air-raid alert started in Kyiv around 3 a.m. local time and lasted for more than three hours, as UAVs came in waves from all directions. According to the New York Times, Ukraine’s Air Force said Russian forces had launched 35 Iranian-made UAVs around Kyiv.
Ukraine air defenses shot down 32 of the UAVs, which included more than a dozen near the capital.
On June 21, Reuters reported that Russian air defense had downed three UAVs in the Moscow region in what they believe to have been a Ukrainian attack. The Defence Ministry stated that Russian forces had used electronic jamming, which caused the UAVs to lose control and crash.
Reuters could not independently verify details of this incident or who had launched the UAV attack.
Air Mobility Event Illustration. (Image: Paris Air Show)
The Paris Air Show
The Paris Air Show rolls out this week, accompanied this year by several urban air mobility (UAM) companies, including Eve Air Mobility with a cabin mock-up of its eVTOL, and demonstrations of its UAM software.
Eve also announced ahead of the show that United Airlines, its major partner, is moving forward with route and infrastructure planning in San Francisco — where such factors as the size of the city and high traffic volume cry out for mobility alternatives.
Eve UAM. (Image: Eve press release)
Emerging as a start-up from within the Brazilian aircraft company Embraer, Eve was eventually floated in 2022 through an initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange. Given the relationship with Embraer, Eve (in particular, United and other Eve customers) stand to gain access to the worldwide maintenance, support, parts and repair organization that Embraer has developed to support its own passenger fleet of thousands of aircraft. An enviable solution for any current or future purchaser of Eve vehicles — this probably has something to do with their huge order backlog for 2,770 vehicles. All that is required now is the full-scale assembly, ground and flight test, verification and certification of the Eve air mobility aircraft — currently forecast to enable a 2026 entry into service.
Additionally, other UAM companies will be present in a special show exhibit, the “Air Mobility Event,” in Hall 5 in Paris.
Is Ukraine winning the UAV war with Russia?
This is not at all clear, as both sides throw at each other many different UAVs in various configurations with different missions. We tend to only see the Ukraine side of the picture, given that Russia does not generally document its successes in the media.
However, recent news indicates that Moscow is importing Iranian UAV technology to bare in its war with Ukraine. It seems that Iran has been supplying complete kamikaze attack UAVs and may also be assisting with materials to set up an assembly plant near Moscow. Potential one-way attack UAVs include the HESA Shahed 136/Geran-2, the new MERAJ-523 which can carry a 50 kg warhead, and the Mohajer-6 reconnaissance/attack drone.
Last week, Russia unleashed a volley of about 44 UAVs on the capital Kyiv, thought to be Shahed 136 kamikaze UAVs. Ukrainian defenses brought down the majority, but there were still a number of casualties. These attacks on the center of Kyiv are said to have intensified during the last two months — the UAVs are cheap, long range, and carry significant ordinance.
Mohajer-6. (Image: courtesy of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine)
The UK is reported to have called Iran’s actions in support of Russia contrary to the nuclear agreements reached between Iran and the European Union in October 2022, which prohibit the supply of any military aid to Russia by Iran.
Not to be left behind, India has brought its own kamikaze UAV online
The ALS-50 loitering munition, built by the Mumbai Tata group, was recently inducted into the Indian Air Force (IAF) for use against targets on the ground (i.e., missile batteries) and on the sea (i.e., ships).
With an apparent range of 1,000 km (62 miles) and a payload of 25 kg (55 lb), the Indian-produced UAV will replace more expensive UAVs, which India has imported from Poland and elsewhere.
With the war in Ukraine on the mind of all countries near the conflict, it is clear that many may take on defense strategies similar to those that have been used by both Russia and Ukraine.
UAV news summed up
So, as the International Paris Air Show, previously a major military exhibition and air show, begins to welcome and feature the coming age of UAM, it is good to see that there are several independent programs that plan to show their wares. Air-taxi services are still some way off from being a reality, as there are still heavy, lengthy investments to be made in building and qualifying these unmanned/manned aircraft for passenger use. Hopefully, however, several of the contenders will make it to the finish line and fulfill the promises made for UAM.
Meanwhile, as the war in Ukraine plods along, taking lives and destroying property, it is good that both sides have decided that UAVs should be the way to proceed. UAVs, after all, are relatively small and the degree of destruction they can cause is limited. Still, this is not very comforting for people on both sides as they run from the sound of two-stroke and four-stroke engines descending from on high, carrying explosive charges that will kill and maim. Additionally, as the West arms Ukraine with defensive materials, it’s not surprising that Russia is seeking weapons from allies, wherever it can find them.
On May 3, Russia claimed Ukraine had launched an overnight UAV attack on the Kremlin in an effort to assassinate President Vladimir Putin, reported multiple news sources including NBC News and Reuters. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy quickly denied any Ukrainian involvement.
A video taken of the incident posted on social media shows two UAVs aimed at the Kremlin that were promptly shot down.
A Ukrainian official stated the incident suggested Moscow was preparing a major terrorist provocation, reported Reuters. Putin’s office said Russia reserved the right to retaliate and that it regards the incident as a planned act of terrorism and an attempt on the president’s life.
A Russian agency also stated Putin was not at the Kremlin at the time of the incident.
BREAKING: Footage surfaces of Ukrainian drone strike on the Kremlin last night. Russian govt confirms 2 unmanned aircraft downed by electronic-warfare systems after crashing into the Kremlin. Tensions escalate amid #UkraineRussiaWar️, inching closer to WW3. #KremlinStrike… pic.twitter.com/RdOHmcsh5k
A couple of stories about unmanned air vehicles in the war in Ukraine and a response to the recent Open Letter by the “Future of Life Institute” with more than 200,000 signatures on advanced AI, which urged a six-month moratorium to allow the development of seemingly much needed AI regulations.
The war in Ukraine
It has been reported that Ukrainian forces were operating the commercially available Chinese Mugin 5 UAV, presumably for surveillance of Russian forces inside Russian-occupied territory. The Mugin 5 can be bought commercially for $10-15,000 and is manufactured by Mugin, which is based in the port city of Xiamen, on China’s eastern coast. In a previous statement posted on the company’s website on March 2, Mugin Limited said that it “condemns” the use of its products during warfare and that it ceased selling products to Russia or Ukraine at the start of the war. However, Russian forces claimed in January 2023 that it had actually shot down one of these Chinese-made UAVs being flown by Ukrainian forces over their territory.
Then, just this week, Ukrainian forces apparently were able to track a low level, slow-moving air vehicle coming at them from Russian occupied territory. After some time, they were able to intercept the UAV, which carried a flashing navigation light, from the ground, and were able to bring it down using small arms. The remains of the crashed UAV were found in a clearing in the forest; a single 44 lb bomb was removed from the wreckage and safely exploded by the Ukrainian team.
Weaponized Mugin 5 following crash in Ukraine forest. (Image: Screenshot from video from Kanal13 Youtube)
Somewhat worse for wear, the Mugin 5 UAV appears to have been held together in places by duct tape and other patches. Is it possible that having shot down a Ukrainian surveillance UAV the Russians recovered these remains and crudely restored the unit to flying and navigating capability, then sent it back to Ukraine owners carrying a bomb? Anything is possible in this conflict.
Staying with this conflict and the use of UAVs by both sides, its seems that Australia has come up with a low-cost surveillance UAV that is virtually undetectable and it’s proving quite popular with the Ukrainians. Most defensive detection involves some form of radar scanning, which relies on radar returns bouncing off a flying target. The Australian company SYPAC in Melbourne has developed the Corvo Precision Payload Delivery System (PPDS). It is a wax-coated cardboard UAV, held together with elastic bands and glue, but carrying sophisticated guidance and control electronics.
(Image: Screenshot of video posted by 7 News Australia)
SYPAQ has developed the CORVO UAV under an AU $1.1 m government contract with the objective of creating a low-cost, disposable UAV to deliver urgent needs — such as medical supplies or to resupply small arms ammunition to the Australian military. CORVO is autonomous once launched, using GNSS guidance, or dead reckoning if GNSS signal is lost or jammed. Apparently, hundreds of these disposable UAVs have already been shipped to Ukraine.
While a surveillance role was originally envisaged in Ukraine, it is reported that, “They have been very good at inflicting lots of damage on the enemy,” according to Ukraine’s ambassador to Australia. So, CORVO UAVs may well have already been weaponized.
Open Letter on AI development
Following a recent open letter supported by Elon Musk and Steve Wozniak that proposes a six-month halt on advanced AI development, I was recently approached on behalf of Professor Ioannis Pitas, director of the Artificial Intelligence and Information Analysis (AIIA) lab at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTH) and management board chair of the AI Doctoral Academy (AIDA) with somewhat different views.
In order to further the on-going discussion, I thought it would be appropriate to give some space to an alternate view on AI development. So here are some paraphrased comments approved by Pitas:
Could AI research be stopped even for a short time? It is doubtful. Further AI progress is necessary for us to transition from an information society to a knowledge society.
Maybe we have reached the limits of AI research carried out primarily by Big Tech, which appears to treat powerful AI systems as black boxes whose functionality may be poorly understood.
It seems that the open letter reflects welcome and genuine concerns on social and financial risk management. Are expensive lawsuits in an unregulated and unlegislated environment inevitable as a consequence of ill-advised AI pronouncements?
However, it is doubtful whether the proposal for a six-month ban on large-scale experiments is the solution. It’s impractical for competitive commercial and geopolitical reasons, with very few benefits.
Of course, AI research can and should become more open, democratic and scientific.
Here are a number of suggested options:
Should elected parliaments and governments make the important decisions on AI rather than corporations or individual scientists?
Every effort should be made to facilitate the positive aspects of AI social and financial progress and to minimize any negative aspects.
The positive impact of AI systems can greatly outweigh their negative aspects if proper regulatory measures are taken.
It is possible that the biggest threat is that AI systems could deceive too many people who have little related knowledge. This can be extremely dangerous.
We should counter the big threat coming from the use of AI in illegal activities — cheating on university exams is a rather benign use — while the possibility of criminal exploitation may be very much worse.
The impact of AI on labor and markets will be very positive in the medium to long term.
AI systems should be required by international law to be a) registered in an ‘AI global register’, and b) users should be notified when they converse with or use the results of an AI system.
As AI systems have a huge impact on society, and in order to maximize their benefit and socio-economic progress, it is recommended that: o advanced key AI system technologies should become mostly open o AI-related data should be at least partially open.
However, strong financial compensation schemes should be established now for AI technology developers to compensate them for any component that becomes open source.
Well, this is a bit of a departure from our nominal UAV/AI report, but there does seem to be a growing number of voices calling for some form of AI regulation and more extensive discussion might well help this movement come to a conclusion. And it would seem that the U.S. administration is listening, as the U.S. Commerce Department has announced that it is seeking inputs from interested parties for methods to test the safety of AI systems — to ensure that they are “legal, effective, ethical, safe and otherwise trustworthy.” In order to enforce these standards, the department is investigating whether audits and inspections to certify AI systems should be required before their release on the unsuspecting public.
The U.S. Commerce Department is apparently not alone in these concerns, as China is also looking to ensure that systems such as Alibaba Cloud’s Tongyi Qianwen, a competitor to OpenAI’s ChatGPT, are socially beneficial. Meanwhile, following the release of ChatGPT and similar products from Microsoft and Google, awareness has grown of the capabilities of the latest AI tools that generate human-like text passages, and even new images and video. The UK Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and the Office for Artificial Intelligence on the other hand, seem to be looking for an approach to regulation that will not restrict AI innovation.
“Seen & Heard” is a monthly feature of GPS World, traveling the world to capture interesting and unusual news stories involving the GNSS/PNT industry.
Image: Reviver
Digital license plates gone wrong
A security research team has gained administrative access to Reviver, the only company in California that sells digital license plates, which has allowed them to track the physical location of all of Reviver’s customers. With this vulnerability, anyone could remotely update, track and delete someone’s Reviver plate. The access also enabled the researchers to change a section of the text at the bottom of the plate, designed for personalized messages, to anything they want, according to Vice.com. California launched the option to buy a digital license plate in October 2022, and Reviver has since addressed the license plates’ security vulnerability.
Image: David Peperkamp/iStock / Getty Images Plus/ Getty Images)
Bill makes secret tracking illegal
Indiana state legislators have filed a bill that would make tracking someone with a GPS-based device without their knowledge a crime, reported WTHR of Indianapolis. The bill is in response to the growing number of criminal cases involving Apple AirTags and other GPS-based tracking devices. Tracking someone secretly is not currently a crime in Indiana; however, laws vary from state to state. Under the proposed bill, the penalty would be increased from a Class C misdemeanor to a Class A misdemeanor if the person tracked is under a protective order. The penalty could be enhanced for someone convicted of using a tracking device when committing a felony. Similar incidents are on the rise around the United States involving the use of AirTags and other tracking devices for criminal purposes.
On New Year’s Day, six rockets were launched from a United States-made Himars rocket system at a vocational college in Ukraine, killing at least 89 Russian soldiers. Russia is blaming this on illegal cellphone usage by Russian soldiers, defying a ban. Ukrainian officials say 400 Russian soldiers were killed and another 300 were wounded, contradicting Russia’s report. However, this is the largest number of deaths Russia has acknowledged during the war. Russia says that the obvious cause of the attack was the use of mobile phones, as the enemy was able to locate and determine the troops’ coordinates for the strike. Two of the rockets were shot down before reaching Makiivka in the occupied Donetsk area of Ukraine.
Researchers at the Department of Marine Geology and Geophysics at the Cochin University of Science and Technology in Kochi, India, say that heavy rainfall can be detected more than six hours in advance using GPS signals, reported The Hindu. During rainy seasons, as GPS signals pass through the atmosphere, how much they are delayed depends on the amount of water vapor present. By using continuous GPS signals and rainfall data collected in Thiruvananthapuram, the study showed that any heavy rainfall could be detected using this delay.
An MQ-9 Reaper UAV has collided with a Russian Su-27 fighter jet after it tried to spray the UAV with jet fuel, reports ABC News. The U.S. European Command has released a video that was taken from a camera the bottom of the UAV and shows the moment the collision occurred.
The Russian fighter jet took two passes at the UAV. During the second attempt to spray the UAV with jet fuel, they collided. Communication with the UAV was lost momentarily after the collision.
From the video, one of the propeller blades of the UAV seems to be damaged.
Now that balloon-season appears to be ending, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) are seeing more use in the war in Ukraine. With the delivery of an updated fast transport craft to the U.S. Navy, autonomous ship operations are expected to be tested extensively. In addition, use of collision-protected UAV is demonstrating high returns for nuclear facility inspections.
UAVs used in Russia-Ukraine war
UAV attacks on Moscow seem to be escalating. A Ukrainian UJ-22 UAV allegedly crashed March 2 near the village of Gubastovo, about 60 miles from Moscow. It’s not clear what the intended target was, or whether the UAV was armed, but an undamaged Gazprom gas plant is close to where the UAV crashed.
The UJ-22 UAV has a maximum range of about 500 miles. Therefore, to maximize its range, it’s unlikely that a big payload was onboard. It may have been just an attempt to assess how far the UAV could penetrate Russian airspace and which targets are in range from Ukraine’s border.
In an earlier apparent UAV attack, the Krasnodar oil facility about 500 miles from the Ukraine border was damaged. A group of Belarusian partisans announced that it attacked and damaged a Beriev A-50 Airborne Warning and Control aircraft (called Mainstay by NATO) using UAVs at the Machulishchy airfield near Minsk, escaping back into Belarus without incident.
The peaceful use of UAVs for the good of humanity seems to be taking a backseat in the escalating Russian-Ukraine conflict, where armed UAVs are enabling previously unheard-of incursions. Russia will likely respond, hopefully limiting action to legitimate military targets as Ukraine has done. However, the existing Russian stock of Iranian-made Shahed 136 “loitering munition” and the Mohajer-6 reconnaissance UAV might be running low. Ukraine has shot down at least 24 Shahed 136 UAVs through January and February and Russia has recently reduced its UAV attacks on Ukraine.
US Navy relies on autonomous capabilities
The U.S. Navy is making great strides in its efforts to incorporate ships with autonomous capability into its fleet. Several developments initiated in 2008 have led to the creation of a fleet of 12 Spearhead EPF Expeditionary Fast Transport ships built by Austal USA. The latest ship, the USNS Apalachicola EPF-13, has been outfitted during build with complete autonomy and has just joined the fleet. The EPF fleet is designed for the rapid deployment of troops, tanks/armaments and heavy equipment. The latest EPF-13 — built by Austal USA, L3Harris and General Dynamics Mission Systems — has a range of 1,200 miles, can accommodate the V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft, and clocks in at a maximum speed of 40 knots.
Image: Austal USA
The earlier ships incorporated automation of hull, electrical and mechanical/power systems, which are all now accessible on the bridge. The latest EPF-13 has added automated maintenance, health monitoring and mission readiness. The EPF 13 Apalachicola comes with the ability to run independent unmannered operations for up to 30 days. At 337 feet long and displacing 362 tons, the EPF can carry up to 600 tons of weapons and equipment, while running a draft of less than 15 ft. Alternatively, EPFs have sufficient capacity to transport 312 soldiers over short distances, plus a crew of 41 when fully manned.
Inspecting nuclear facilities with UAVs
Clean-up operations at nuclear waste facilities are continuing to use UAVs for inspection and assessment of locations that are difficult to access and potentially contaminated. Flyability intends to add a Miron RDS-32 radiation sensor to its Elios-3 UAV family to gather in-situ radiation measurements while inspecting complex confined spaces at nuclear sites.
In recent activity at a nuclear plant, an annual inspection of three tank rooms and collection of detailed visual video of a suspected leaking valve were readily accomplished in two UAV inspection sessions of a few minutes each.
The previous manual inspection process required the plant output to be reduced to 20% of normal capacity over a six-hour cooldown. When radiation levels became low enough, two inspectors dressed in protective gear climbed down into the first tank room where radiation levels exposed each person to around 250 millirem (2,500 µSv or about 10% of the allowed annual exposure). They took a few still pictures and measured radiation levels, then exited each hot area before repeating the process for the other two tank rooms. The whole time, the productive output of the plant was significantly reduced. Another six hours was required afterwards to restore the plant back to full output, never mind that personnel were exposed to a bunch of radiation.
Flyability’s solution is to fly an Elios UAV down into each tank room, take high-resolution video of the entire area in 1-2 minutes and repeat the process for each of the other tank rooms, without reducing plant output power. For detailed inspection of the suspected valve, the UAV was flown deeper into the reaction vessel. Detailed video was collected and the UAV was extracted — all within about 10 minutes.
The bottom line is that generation of around 4.8 GW of power, worth maybe $456,000, was saved using the Elios UAV inspection approach. No one was exposed to the higher radiation levels inside the facility, and significant time was saved for both the annual and suspected valve inspections. Incidentally, the valve in questions was cleared of any potential leaks.
Conclusion
In summary, developments in autonomy include use in the Ukraine-Russian war, more ship automation for the U.S. Navy, and more efficient inspection of nuclear facilities.
The United States Department of Defense (DOD) will provide a new package of security assistance for Ukraine to aid with ongoing Russian aerial attacks. The package includes defense tools such as GPS-guided rockets and counter-UAV equipment.
The presidential drawdown package includes:
additional ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems
additional 155 mm artillery rounds
additional 120 mm mortar rounds
190 heavy machine guns with thermal imagery sights and associated ammunition to counter unmanned aerial systems
181 Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles
250 Javelin anti-armor systems
2,000 anti-armor rockets
Claymore anti-personnel munitions
demolitions munitions
cold weather gear, helmets and other field equipment.
Under the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI), DOD will provide Ukraine with:
two HAWK air defense firing units
anti-aircraft guns and ammunition
equipment to integrate Western air defense launchers, missiles and radars with Ukraine’s air defense systems
equipment to sustain Ukraine’s existing air defense capabilities
air defense generators
counter-unmanned aerial systems
four air surveillance radars
20 counter-mortar radars
spare parts for counter-artillery radars
Puma unmanned aerial systems
precision-guided rockets
secure communications equipment
medical supplies
funding for training, maintenance and sustainment.
Ukraine has been able to intercept Russian UAVs and missiles; however, having additional air defense will help combat efforts.
On Nov. 29, 2022, Russia launched the 51st Glonass-M satellite, completing a 20-year history that began on Dec. 10, 2003, with the launch of the first one. These satellites have been providing navigation signals in two frequency bands, L1OF and L2OF, to civil users since 2011.The average orbit lifetime for this type of satellite is more than 10 years, and 13 Glonass-M satellites operate beyond their guaranteed lifetime. The last set of seven satellites has been broadcasting the first CDMA civil signal, L3OC, by means of an additional antenna and onboard transmitter.
Starting this year, the constellation will be renewed by Glonass-K and Glonass-K2 satellites, which provide CDMA signals to users. Furthermore, four Glonass-K satellites will be supplemented with additional Glonass-K satellites and the first Glonass-K2 satellite. The K2 satellite has passed all ground tests and is ready to be transported to the launch site (Figure 1). Table 1 lists the technical characteristics of GLONASS satellites.
Figure 1. Artist’s rendition of the Glonass-K2 satellite in orbit.Table 1. The evolutions of GLONASS satellites.
The distinguishing feature of this satellite’s design is its two antenna arrays — one for CDMA signals with phase centers on the geometrical axis of the satellite, and the second for FDMA signals with phase centers shifted by 0.9 m relative to that axis.
The optical reflector panel center is also located on the satellite’s geometrical axis and passed through its mass center. It seems to be a very interesting scientific task to estimate the satellite flight model parameters by International Laser Ranging Service stations with the objective to improve the accuracy of the navigation signals for both antenna arrays.
Future GLONASS satellites will have a single antenna array for CDMA and FDMA signals (see Figure 2).
Figure 2. The evaluations of GLONASS satellites.
For analogous updates on the other three GNSS constellations, please see:
