Jack Watling, a senior research fellow and a land warfare expert at the UK-based Royal United Services Institute think tank, highlighted in a report last week that Russia has placed SIM cards in its explosive Shahed-136 drones and mounted antennae on the wings. 'These were used in two ways,' Watling wrote in a September 6 analysis about the risks and opportunities of mobile phones on the battlefield. 'First, the UAV used the network to assist with navigation by triangulating off the bearings of mobile phone masts.'
'The Russians were sending telemetry data from the UAVs back through the mobile phone network to help plan follow up strikes.' The Shahed-136 is an Iranian one-way attack drone that Russia has been using to strike civilian infrastructure and energy facilities across Ukraine for two years. It has a range of more than 600 miles and carries a warhead of nearly 100 pounds.
Despite these adaptations improving their targeting capabilities, Watling indicates that Russia's reliance on mobile networks presents vulnerabilities. 'There is of course something rather suspicious about a mobile phone travelling at 350 kmph, and so these behaviours could be tracked.'
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