August 12, 2024: So far in 2024 Russia has launched about 2,500 Geran-2 UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles), or drones at Ukrainian targets. These 200 kg drones travel at a speed of 180 kilometers an hour at an altitude of about 100 meters. They carry a 50 kg warhead. Navigation is jammable (close to the target) GPS with the unjammable but less accurate INS backup. The Geran is the Russian version of the Iranian Shahed 136 Russia produces under license at a newly constructed Russian factory.

About 86 percent of the Geran’s have been detected and destroyed by a clever Ukrainian air defense system created by two Ukrainian engineers. Called Sky Fortress, it consists of nearly 10,000 cell phones mounted on two-meter poles with their microphones activated to detect the unique sounds of Gerans flying nearby. All this data goes to a command post where operators can triangulate on, locate and track the incoming drones and direct groups of gun trucks, each equipped with multiple machine-guns and lots of ammunition, to positions the drones will pass over. The gun trucks have managed to destroy most of the drones they encounter. Ukraine has built several hundred of these gun trucks and deploys them quickly via roads or cross country to carry out the interception. This system costs less than a single Patriot air defense missile. This drone defense system is operated by thousands of Ukrainian soldiers and its simplicity, effectiveness and low coast has led NATO countries to request more details from the Ukrainians, including visits to NATO countries to further explain the system.