The Telegram Wrap: Portable Radar, Starlink Alternatives & Shrike Computer Vision

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15 Mar 2025
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There’s no denying that the Russia — Ukraine conflict has been shared in detail on social media. So, one of the best ways to stay ahead of what’s happening across the front lines of Ukraine, is to turn our OSINT skills to social media and analyse social media to find out about the conflict.
The Telegram wrap is a recurring piece that looks at interesting pieces of Ukrainian language information that have been posted to recently. With this, we aim to cover all the latest developments regarding drones and usage of the radio spectrum.

One thing to remember though. The posts are taken from Telegram and written up without any fact checking or additional analysis performed, so you’ll need to draw your own conclusions regarding authenticity and credibility.


Portable “Ranot” Radar

The first post discusses interesting developments regarding the ongoing battle for drone detection superiority. It notes that a small, portable radar system called the Ranot is being used to assist with detection activities on the front line.


It also reports that it’s capable of detecting a Mavic type drone at around 1.8 km range, while flying wing systems can be identified at up to 4km. Due to its small size, it’s not suitable for using in forested or built-up areas.


While the US-designed Patriot system is a key part of the Ukrainian air defense system, smaller systems like the Ranok also play a big part in keeping the skies under surveillance.


Starlink

With the United States dropping its support agreements, the reliance of the Ukrainian armed forces on the Starlink satellite system has also been questioned. This proved to be a well-founded measure when SpaceX CEO Elon Musk referred directly to this issue on social media.
Geopolitically speaking, given the tension of the current environment, it would be prudent for Ukraine to explore options that help mitigate these problems.


This post considers the issue in detail and discusses mitigation strategies. Unfortunately, it notes that Oneweb is the only viable alternative that’s currently available.


Oneweb is a less mature product than Starlink, but there’s no denying that the loss of Starlink would come with significant issues for Ukraine.


3GHZ Transmitters

In previous wraps, we discussed how frequency agility is one of the techniques used to help stay ahead of, or mitigate, electronic warfare strategies.

As such, we’ve seen a broad range of frequencies being used and when carried out successfully, we’ll see systems that operate outside the scope of detection equipment across the front lines.


This post discusses this problem, noting that the Russian systems at the moment have moved into the 3GZ band, rendering them undetectable to current detection systems.
It notes that currently, frequencies between 3.5–3.7 GHZ are the focus of this latest issue.


“Gonets” Satcom System

With the US relying heavily on its satcom infrastructure during times of war, it’s interesting to ponder why Russia isn’t leveraging theirs in the same way.

This post looks at some of the reasons around why the system isn’t seeing more use across the frontline. To save yourself a long read though, it appears that the system suffers from low bandwidth that hinders it’s use while the frequency it uses (320MHZ) requires larger antennas than an equivalent microwave systems.


Despite these limitations, it looks like a new modem has been released that aims to use the Gonets as a data and information feed for UAV systems that are in flight.


“Shrike” Computer Vision

With heavy EW in play across the entire front line, systems that have redundancy for target and navigation are now king. This includes systems that are able to operate autonomously with no human intervention required.

This post discusses the usage of the Shrike computer vision system to help mitigate the effects that are incurred by heavy RF jamming.


It appears that refinement of the system has been quietly ongoing and the attached video is a good example of how the system operates. At one point, EW disrupts the video feed, however, despite this, the system continues to track the target without issue.

Send The News

Have you got an interesting tip? Seen an intriguing Social Media post that you think needs some extra attention or research? We’re always looking for new stories that focus on current events and issues.

So, if you find something that you think is worth a story, send an email or find us on Twitter / X to send your story.

If you’d like to review the source channel on Telegram for today’s material, you can do so by visiting this link.

If you’d like to support Ukrainian independence, visit the official United24 website

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