The enemy systematically jams and spoofs satellite signals, and in response Ukrainian drone designers are building an entire stack: inertial modules, ground-based beacon networks, magnetic maps, and optical terrain recognition. None of these technologies solves the problem on its own, so they are more often used in combination.
How EW Works
Electronic warfare systems counter drones in two primary ways:
- The first is jamming: powerful radio noise interrupts the drone’s communication with the ground control station.
- The second is spoofing — the substitution of satellite signals, whereby the drone receives false coordinates, goes off course, or loses orientation entirely.
How Inertial Navigation Works
An inertial system calculates the drone’s position based on its own motion — without any external signal. Gyroscopes and accelerometers measure acceleration and rotation, and an algorithm uses this data to reconstruct the flight trajectory, processing readings at rates of up to hundreds of times per second. There is, however, a problem: error accumulates over time, and the longer the mission runs without external correction, the more the drone drifts from its actual position.
This is critical at high speeds. Anatoliy Yurkov, co-founder of the EW manufacturer Contraдрон, notes that even jet-powered drones, which are difficult to intercept physically, have a vulnerability: at high speeds inertial navigation performs worse, and with effective jamming of communications and satellite navigation such aircraft can lose control and fail to reach their target.
StableLink and Other Backup Navigation Solutions for UAVs
Beyond inertial navigation, additional solutions are used to help maintain control and orientation. One such system is StableLink. It is not a standalone navigation module in the classical sense, but rather a technology that helps sustain the stability of communications and data transmission.
It operates as an auxiliary layer that reduces the risk of losing control. Combined with navigation systems, this produces more predictable drone behavior. Without such solutions, the system may behave erratically upon signal loss. With them, an additional layer of control becomes available.
Ground Beacons: Ukraine’s Answer
While inertial navigation remains a backup solution, Ukraine is scaling an alternative — a network of ground-based beacons. Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Brigadier General Andriy Lebedenko reported that a pilot deployment of beacons in Sumy and Kharkiv oblasts yielded good results and will be rolled out across the entire country. According to him, in areas where the AFU actively suppress satellite navigation themselves, their own drones, light aircraft, and interceptor drones navigate using precisely this ground-based system.
The technology was developed by Ukrainian company Vyriy: a board with an antenna is installed on the UAV, and a network of radio transmitters is deployed along flight routes, enabling the drone to fly autonomously even under complete suppression of GPS and radio communications.
Magnetic Navigation: The Next Frontier
In parallel, Ukrainian scientists are working on a fundamentally different GPS alternative — navigation using the geomagnetic field. Mykhailo Orlyuk, head of the geomagnetism department at the S. I. Subbotin Institute of Geophysics of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, explained that the declination and inclination of Earth’s magnetic field are unique to every point on the ground, meaning it can serve as a coordinate system in place of GPS. The principle resembles optical navigation: a drone equipped with a highly sensitive magnetometer would compare real-time readings against a digital map of Ukraine’s geomagnetic field, which the scientists have already produced.
There is a technical challenge — interference from the drone’s own electric motors, which overwhelm the natural magnetic background. This is addressed through filtering algorithms, including neural-network-based ones, that subtract engine noise from the sensor readings in real time. According to Orlyuk, bringing the technology to combat application is a complex scientific and engineering task, and work on it is ongoing.
Optical Navigation and AI
The next direction is computer vision. An onboard computer compares imagery of the terrain against reference maps stored in memory, enabling the drone to navigate without GPS, while artificial intelligence technologies allow it to independently acquire a target and complete guidance even without an active radio link to the operator. This approach works symmetrically in EW: Ukrainian systems suppress the radio altimeters and optical navigation correction of enemy cruise missiles, forcing them to lose orientation and miss their targets.
No single GPS-free navigation technology is self-sufficient today: inertial systems lose accuracy over time and at high speeds, ground beacons are tied to infrastructure, magnetic navigation is still undergoing combat trials, and optical systems depend on the quality of reference terrain maps. The trend is clear — building up layers of redundancy in which each technology compensates for the weaknesses of the others.