Ukrainian advisor says Russia plans satellite-free navigation for Shaheds and guided bombs
Serhiy Beskrestnov, an advisor to the president of Ukraine on defense technology, says Russia plans to install a beacon-based navigation system called Ariadna on Shahed drones and guided aerial bombs. He says the system would allow the weapons to orient themselves up to 100 km into Ukrainian territory without satellite signals, making them resistant to electronic jamming.
Key points
- Serhiy Beskrestnov (call sign "Flash"), an advisor to Ukraine's president on defense technology, made the claim in a Facebook post on Saturday, 19 September 2026.
- He said Russia plans to equip Shahed drones and guided aerial bombs (KABs) with a new navigation system called Ariadna.
- Beskrestnov said Ariadna works by receiving signals from three ground points with known coordinates and calculating the device's location from signal delay, without satellite connectivity.
- He said the system would allow drones and bombs to orient themselves up to 100 km into Ukrainian territory, enabling precision strikes across much of the country.
- According to Beskrestnov, the lack of satellite reliance makes Ariadna resistant to electronic warfare and jamming.
- He said Russia first disclosed Ariadna in December 2025 and continued developing the project afterwards.
- He added that Russia began using beacon-based navigation on Zala drones in 2022 and that Ukraine also uses similar ground-radio-beacon navigation on its reconnaissance drones.
What happened
On Saturday, 19 September 2026, Serhiy Beskrestnov, an advisor to Ukraine's president on defense technology development (known by the call sign "Flash"), wrote on Facebook that Russia plans to install a new beacon-based navigation system called Ariadna on Shahed drones and guided aerial bombs (KABs). He said Ariadna would let the weapons orient themselves up to 100 km into Ukrainian territory and carry out precision strikes across a large part of the country.
According to Beskrestnov, Ariadna works by receiving signals from three ground points with known coordinates and calculating the device's own position from the signal delay, without needing satellite connectivity. That lack of satellite reliance, he said, makes the system resistant to electronic warfare and jamming. He added that Russia first disclosed Ariadna in December 2025 and that the project continued to be developed afterwards rather than being shelved.
Background
Beskrestnov placed the Ariadna announcement in a wider context of competing drone-navigation approaches. He said Russia began using beacon-based navigation on Zala drones as early as 2022 and that Ukraine itself already uses similar ground-radio-beacon-based navigation on its reconnaissance drones. He described orientation via inhomogeneities of the Earth's magnetic field as the most promising satellite-independent navigation direction, but noted that leading global companies are still developing the technology and it is not yet ready for serial production.