Air defense turrets with artificial intelligence: Ukraine tests new weapons against Shaheds

The occupiers are already freely launching 600 long-range drones per night and continue to increase pressure on defense enterprises, critical infrastructure, and civilians.

In the face of a constant shortage of air defense, Ukraine is constantly inventing new ways to destroy the Shaheds and their imitators without using expensive missiles.

Mobile fire teams ride in pickup trucks with machine guns and MANPADS and search for targets in the air. Interceptor drones have appeared, which are already shooting down dozens of drones per night.

Ukraine also has in its arsenal Soviet anti-aircraft missile and gun systems 2S6 "Tunguska" and Western gun systems Gepard and Skynex. The latter have programmable ammunition that explodes when approaching the target and hits it with fragments. Inside such ammunition is a miniature chip-computer, to which information about the range to the target is transmitted as the projectile leaves the barrel.

Anti-aircraft guns are much more effective than expensive air defense missiles. However, they also have their limitations – such gun complexes are complex and few in number. They cannot cover all cities, let alone the front line. In addition, mass production of programmable ammunition is a complex technological task that the Ukrainian defense complex is not yet able to solve.

The Ukrainian sky can only be protected by a complex of various means. Part of this complex could be remotely controlled turrets that will guide a machine gun to the target using artificial intelligence.

This is a logical extension of the idea of mobile fire groups with machine guns, the effectiveness of which remains limited due to the human factor, lack of personnel, and the constant increase in the altitude of enemy targets.

Air defense turrets – a new level of complexity for engineers

Remotely controlled automated turrets are already being delivered to the front. Although current versions of these weapons are designed to destroy enemy infantry and equipment on the ground, their main advantage is the ability to hide the operator in a safe place, at a low cost and with rapid scalability.

Such a turret consists of a combat unit, where a machine gun or cannon is located; an optoelectronic system unit, where a camera and a thermal imager are installed, which are responsible for detecting and targeting the target; a control unit, where software systems are located; a bed - a metal tripod with a frame, on which all the equipment is held.

However, there is a big gap between a land turret and an air defense system, says Anatoliy Khrapchynsky, a former officer of the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, who is involved in the development of comprehensive solutions in the field of air defense, to Defence.

"A land-based automatic turret is, in essence, a "smart machine gun": a camera, a thermal imager, simple tracking algorithms, and drives that have time to move after enemy infantry or vehicles. It sees in two dimensions, works on targets that move relatively slowly and predictably. The task of such a turret is to hold the perimeter, guard a position, or repel an attack. That is, simple logic: see, fix, shoot.

"An air defense turret is a completely different matter. This is where the real mathematics begins. Because interception takes place in three-dimensional space at a speed of hundreds of kilometers per hour. Added to this are munitions with remote detonation, integration of turrets into the overall air defense system, and 3D preemption algorithms. Therefore, here the turrets immediately need optoelectronic stations, a ballistic computer, and drives that must keep up with a maneuverable object racing in three-dimensional space," explains Khrapchinsky.

If the anti-aircraft turret is operating on the front line, optics and thermal imagers will be enough to detect small drones. However, in rear cities against the Shaheds this will not work, because in large areas a network of radars is needed to detect and track a fast target. They must give the target's exact coordinates and transmit them to the turret.

In fact, the niche of such automated turrets in the rear is now occupied by mobile fire groups (MGF) with machine guns. But the fighters of such groups have physical limitations in accuracy and speed of reaction, especially in conditions of increasing altitude of enemy UAVs.

The MVA only knows the sector or azimuth to the air target, but does not have its exact coordinates and the ability to automatically work on them. This prevents effective interception of drones, and makes their downing dependent on the luck factor.

"There must be the right architecture. A simple anti-aircraft gun must be equipped with a radar for tracking the target and firing. This "firing" radar near the turret receives data from the observation radar, taking the target for tracking and automatically calculating its lead. This is not fiction, this is a classic of air defense, which for some reason is still considered an "excessive luxury" in our country," notes Anatoliy Khrapchinsky.

The state-owned technocluster Brave1 notes that there are already many turrets on the Ukrainian market, but the developments require constant improvement to meet the realities of war.

For an effective air defense turret, what is primarily important is not the caliber and power of the ammunition, but the firing range and aiming accuracy.

Among the main tasks in the development of turrets is to combine hardware with software solutions and artificial intelligence. Automatic targeting systems are vital for air defense turrets, as they ensure the autonomy of the turret in positions.

Brave1 emphasizes that turret manufacturers are now integrating friend-or-foe recognition systems into their products. In this way, they seek to solve the problem of friendly fire, which is difficult to avoid when firing from a regular soldier.

The development of autonomous systems in the rear will reduce the need for personnel dispersed throughout the MVG. Ideally, an air defense turret operator could be located tens of kilometers away and control several installations from a single center.

"Now we are moving towards shooting down Shaheds using turrets, that is, strengthening existing air defense systems. There are already successful examples of using such systems," the Brave1 technocluster said to Defense.

Air defense turrets are already on the market

One example of such turrets is the Ukrainian-developed Sky Sentinel system with a 12.7 mm M2 Browning machine gun. It is capable of destroying drones at a range of up to two kilometers, firing 500 rounds per minute. The developer has stated that the main targets for the turret are Shahed drones.

Also known is the remotely controlled combat module "Predator" from the Ukrainian team "UGV Robotics". It is equipped with a 7.62 mm machine gun - PKT, or the Western M240. The turret is designed to fire at moving air targets.

It is stated that with the help of artificial intelligence and a gyrostabilization system, the Predator can destroy air targets at ranges of 600-800 m, depending on the size. The turret has already shot down drones on a 7-inch frame at a distance of 200 m.

The turret can be mounted on a vehicle chassis or a ground robotic complex and is capable of hitting targets while its own platform is moving. It is also planned to install it stationary - on the roofs of buildings to protect them from drone attacks.

As a representative of UGV Robotics, who wished to remain anonymous, told Defense, the "Predator" turret was created to destroy drones and enemy helicopters from naval unmanned boats. Therefore, it received enhanced protection against seawater and corrosion and can even be underwater for a certain time without losing its functionality.

The turret is equipped with two cameras – a viewing and a sighting one. Both cameras are thermal imaging, which makes it easy to detect air targets against the sky and mark enemy ships and boats.

The artificial intelligence developed by the team determines the type of target based on its size and speed. If the turret has detected several air objects, the operator can select the target that he plans to attack. Then the program will accompany it during the flight and go into target acquisition mode. After that, the ballistic calculator is turned on, which calculates and displays on the screen the point where the operator needs to shoot to destroy the target.

The development has already been codified and is in the final stage of delivery to several military units. At the same time, software updates are released almost every month and artificial intelligence is being improved. And the first delivered turrets are already being operated on unmanned boats in the Black Sea.

Such lightweight turrets can also be effective on the front line. They are ideal for destroying low-flying quadcopter-type drones. And the integration of AI allows the turret to work faster and guarantee the safety of the operator, who is in a dugout out of the line of sight of the enemy drone.

The company is already working on a new, more powerful version of the turret with a 12.7 mm machine gun. Its program will include its own navigation system and a weather station, which will allow the turret to make independent corrections, for example, for wind gusts. A number of additional functions will be added, which are not yet disclosed.

It is now important to correctly "fit" automated turrets into the overall air defense system. They can be effective together with radars, situational awareness systems, optical-sighting complexes and artificial intelligence. Only technological complexity and rapid scaling of production of such systems will allow to achieve results.