Ukraine warns “Geran Seeker” drones could track heat sources in winter PHOTO

Ukrainian presidential adviser Serhii Beskrestnov has warned that the growing use of thermal-imaging technology on Russian “Geran Seeker” attack drones could make heat-emitting facilities and equipment increasingly vulnerable as temperatures fall.

Beskrestnov, an adviser on the development of defence technologies, said in a Telegram post that the threat from thermal imaging would become more pronounced in autumn and winter. He urged Ukrainians to consider the capability when concealing sensitive infrastructure, saying heat from facilities such as mini combined heat and power plants and generator stations could make them detectable.

To illustrate the point, Beskrestnov shared a photograph that he said showed a Shahed operator detecting a locomotive from 5-6 kilometres away with a thermal imager.

“Unfortunately, as the weather gets colder, all warm and hot objects will become prey for ‘Gerans Seeker’ with thermal imagers. Take this into account already. Plans to keep some mini-CHP plant, generator station and much more secret may prove to be an illusion,” he wrote.

He said thermal detection becomes more effective as the temperature gap widens between a heat source and its surroundings, potentially exposing locomotives, generators and boiler houses even when they are concealed from ordinary cameras.

Beskrestnov said the Seeker system could be fitted to Geran versions two through four, adding that the jet-powered Geran-4 Seeker had recently become the most frequently encountered variant. He said the drones use several cameras operating in different modes and are controlled by a pilot via a radio mesh modem.

The system’s principal feature, according to Beskrestnov, is automatic target recognition, acquisition and guidance based on a Raspberry Pi microcomputer.

“If the pilot of the ‘Seeker’, for example, acquires a locomotive as a target from a distance of one kilometre, then a low-power electronic warfare system on the locomotive will not protect it. Machine-vision algorithms will guide the ‘Seeker’ to the target without the operator’s involvement,” he said.

By Tamilla Hasanova