Ukraine’s new pocket-sized gadget turns Russian drones’ cameras against them

KYIV — A Kyiv startup’s pocket-sized, 10-ounce receiver lets Ukrainian troops watch the video feeds of Russian drones, though Russian moves toward digital video and AI-guided drones that emit no signals could make the victory short-lived. A Kyiv equipment startup called CODE380 has been gaining attention for a pocket-sized receiver, the D·Vision SDR, that picks up live camera video from many Russian drones and shows it on a screen. Those drones send their video over the air without any scrambling, so anyone with the right receiver can watch along.

A Ukrainian unit can see where a drone is heading and what its pilot is aiming at before it hits. According to Defense News, the device is light, at about 10 ounces, which is less than half the weight of competing Ukrainian models, one of which weighs a couple of pounds. It also listens on the radio channels Russia’s newer Molniya drones started using for video in June.

Serhii “Flash” Beskrestnov, a radio specialist who advises Ukraine’s president, said in a June Facebook post cited by Defense News that “most detectors don’t see these frequencies, or see them poorly.” He warned that putting too much trust in a detector could prove fatal. Beskrestnov has also warned that digital video could one day replace analog, which would blind receivers like this one. The New York Times reported in August that some Molniyas are AI-guided, using Nvidia chips and emitting no signals.

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