Optical 'Susanin' guidance and quieter FPVs: Ukraine may return to blackouts, Zaporizhzhia covers roads with nets

Flash’s warning

Serhiy “Flash” Beskrestnov, a freelance adviser to the president on defence technology, said Ukraine may have to return to night-time light masking, or blackouts. The reason is the Russian “Susanin” optical navigation module, which can be fitted to Geran-5 attack drones and other drones and missiles.

“In 2022 we did this out of fear and misunderstanding, but now we will probably have to act deliberately. If our enemy starts mass use of the Susanin optical navigation module on the Geran-5 and other UAVs (missiles) at night, we may have to reconsider light masking. This especially concerns lighting of roads and sections of highways,” Beskrestnov wrote on Telegram, as quoted by Ukrinform.

Why light becomes a landmark

Optical navigation lets a drone find its way using camera images rather than relying only on satellite signals, which Ukrainian electronic warfare has learned to jam. At night, lit roads, highways and towns become visible landmarks for such a system. That is why Flash singles out road and highway lighting.

Ukrinform previously reported that Russia is collecting videos of Geran drone hits, probably to test its optical recognition and target-guidance algorithms in combat. In other words, this is not a one-off experiment but systematic work on guidance.

A new FPV over Zaporizhzhia

Meanwhile Zaporizhzhia is facing a new threat. Serviceman and former city councillor Dmytro Kyrylchuk said Russian forces have for several days in a row been attacking the city with a new FPV strike drone, the “Knyaz Vladimir Svyatoslavovich” (KVS), which has a ring wing.

According to Kyrylchuk, its design lets it fly up to 50 kilometres, take off vertically and be used with fibre-optic control, and, most importantly in a city, it sounds different from an ordinary FPV and is quieter. He warned that it poses a threat to every district of the city.

According to Suspilne, the KVS was developed by the Russian research and production centre Ushkuynik. The wing fully encircles the body, allowing vertical take-off and horizontal flight. Russian sources claim it may have automatic target lock. Fibre-optic control makes it immune to electronic warfare, and the quieter sound makes it harder to detect in time.

Nets over roads and shelters at bus stops

Physical barriers are becoming the region’s answer to the FPV threat. Acting head of the Zaporizhzhia regional military administration Mykhailo Semikin said more than 370,000 square metres of anti-drone netting have already been installed in Zaporizhzhia. Russian forces attack the region up to a thousand times a day, he said, so almost 400,000 square metres of protective structures are being built over the region’s roads.

Mobile shelters are also being installed at public transport stops: the region plans 100 new ones by the end of the year, and 40% of the plan has been completed. Back in July Zaporizhzhia tested anti-drone nets, after which it was decided to reinforce the structures.

Why it matters

Both stories show how quickly drone warfare is changing. Russia is looking for ways around electronic warfare through optical navigation and fibre optics. Ukraine is responding not only with technology but also by changing how its cities behave, from nets over roads to a possible switch-off of highway lighting at night. There is no official decision on blackouts yet; Beskrestnov is describing a possible scenario.