Russia Unveils 'Square' AI Guidance System for FPV Drones

The Russian Armed Forces are constantly testing novel designs of loitering munitions in the special military operation zone, targeting the billions’ worth of sophisticated weapons that Ukraine's NATO patrons have sent to the combat area.

Russian drone and electronic warfare system designers in Tula have successfully developed an intelligent first-person view (FPV) drone guidance system.

The novel engineering design allows the unmanned aerial vehicle to recognize and attack targets without human intervention, Andrey Ivanov, the creator of the "Ovod" ("Gadfly") combat FPV drone, told Sputnik.

“The ‘Ovod-S’ unmanned aerial vehicle has an incorporated ‘Ploshchad’ [lit. 'Square'] onboard homing system. It is implemented through two types of tracking: algorithmic, where technical vision is used, and a neural network, allowing it to recognize targets and destroy them,” Ivanov said.

According to the developers, this solution will allow FPV kamikaze drones to attack targets even when communication between the operator and the drone is lost.

“The effectiveness of this solution is due to the fact that when we go beyond the limits of radio visibility, that is, behind a forest, a hill, or a building, we lose connection. But having locked in on a target beforehand, the device continues to track the target even if the connection is broken,” said Andrey Ivanov.

He added that the AI guidance system ensures the drone continues to accurately engage and hit the target, “regardless of whether it is static or dynamic.”