Drones

Ukraine’s Shark Seen Prowling Over Kursk

It looks like an inflatable toy but directs lethal strikes for HIMARS

Ukraine Shark drone. Credit By Nazar Korovai — Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=134936081

If you are engaged with social media, NAFO (North Atlantic Fellas Organisation) and the Ukraine war then you may know that the Russian vatniks have a particularly sharp reaction to shark jokes. This arose from the death of a Russian tourist in Egypt.

Twitter

So I’m sure it’s no coincidence that ‘Shark’ is the name of a very successful Ukrainian surveillance drone. It has a large number of ‘kills’ to its credit — kills in the sense of targets spotted but destroyed by other means such as kamikaze drones, artillery and missiles.

It is most often used in conjunction with HIMARS for fire adjustment.

As I said, it’s a surveillance drone.

And now according to Chuck Pfarrer one or more of them is in action over Kursk in what some are now calling the ‘Russia war’ — not the Ukraine war — in response to Ukraine’s stunning thrust into Russia.

The Shark

The Shark is an unmanned aerial vehicle developed by Ukrspecsystems for Ukrainian armed forces. The drone possesses a communication module with AES256 encryption, enabling operation within 80 kilometres of enemy territory under electronic warfare conditions.

Shark UAS on launch ramp. Credit: Azerelia, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

An optical-electronic surveillance complex forms part of the drone’s equipment. This system offers 30x optical magnification and 3x digital zoom, permitting target surveillance up to five kilometres distant.

The aircraft has a wingspan of 3.4 metres (~12 feet) and includes an electric motor capable of propelling the drone at a maximum speed of 130 kilometres per hour, with a cruising speed of 75 kilometres per hour. The drone can fly for up to four hours at a maximum altitude of 1,000 metres. Its maximum range extends to 300 kilometres.

The Shark system unit comprises three drones and a command post vehicle. Its cost totals approximately US$325,000.

We know that Ukraine has about 30 Shark systems, most of them paid for by charitable fundraising. (Wikipedia)

Shark drone specification. Author table.

The flight time and camera image quality are particular strengths.

Image: Twitter

Deployment and control

A key deployment project involved retrofitting the Torsus Terrastorm vehicle for remote piloting of the Shark. This upgraded vehicle is optimised for hostile theatres, offering efficient operations in any weather and rapid deployment.

The Terrastorm is a VW-based 4x4 minibus.

[embed]TORSUS Terrastorm - The Ultimate 4x4 Minibus for All Terrain Transport TORSUS Terrastorm is the ultimate 4WD minibus for a wide range of uses, with a wide range of configuration options.torsus.eu

The Terrastorm is likely linked in to the C3 or C3 area network to connect Shark data feeds to target designators and HIMARS launch platforms for fire adjustment.

[embed]"Shark" drones team up with HIMARS to wipe out 5 Russian Buk systems: Video The reconnaissance drones have been used across the contested Zaporizhzhia region of southern Ukraine, according to…www.newsweek.com

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[embed]SHARK UAS - Ukrspecsystems SHARK UAS - multifunctional unmanned aerial system for a wide range of missions on the base of SHARK UAV from…ukrspecsystems.com