Key Points – Ukraine is using artificial intelligence to bolster its strained and overworked air defense network against Russian aerial assaults.
-A system called “Zvook” (“sound”), deployed since 2022, uses a network of microphones and machine learning to acoustically detect incoming drones and cruise missiles at low to medium altitudes, providing crucial early warning to defense crews.
-While cheaper and harder to detect than radar, and becoming more accurate as it learns, this innovative system helps Ukraine make the most of its limited interceptor missiles (like those for its few Patriot batteries), but it does not solve the underlying problem of a dwindling missile supply.
How AI Is Bolstering Ukraine’s Weakened Air Defense
While Ukraine has proven it can strike deep into Russia with asymmetric drone tactics, it remains vulnerable to large-scale aerial assaults as a result of its weakened network of air defense systems.
Thankfully for Kyiv, AI technology has allowed its forces to keep fighting and defending its major cities for far longer than many might have anticipated.
Ukraine’s Weakened Air Defenses
That weakness was laid bare on June 6, when Russia launched over 400 drones and more than 40 cruise and ballistic missiles at cities across the country – including Kyiv – in what appeared to be retaliation for Ukraine’s Operation Spider’s Web.
While Ukrainian forces mounted an impressive defense, reportedly shooting down 406 projectiles before they could reach their targets, their resources are significantly depleted with every new Russian barrage.
To protect its airspace, Ukraine initially relied on Soviet-era air-defense systems, including the NPO Almaz S-300 and NIIP Tikhomirov 9k37 Buk. By the end of the first years of the war, however, Ukraine’s stock of Soviet-era missiles began to run out and could not be replaced. Europe and the United States quickly stepped up, providing a range of short-range and medium-range surface-to-air missile systems.
Throughout the conflict, Ukraine has relied on a combination of aging and modern air defense systems, from Gepard self-propelled air-defense artillery systems gifted by Germany to modified MBDA Advanced Short-Range Air-to-Air Missiles from the United Kingdom. By 2024, however, Ukraine saw a sharp decline in munitions and air defense system deliveries. To ensure Ukraine could defend against aerial assaults, the Biden administration prioritized the deliveries of NASAMS and Patriot interceptors.
The Patriot system remains Ukraine’s most effective shield against cruise and ballistic missiles, but only eight batteries are understood to be in the country, with six reportedly in use. Two are believed to be non-operational due to a lack of spare parts and maintenance problems.
How AI Helps Ukraine Defend Against Aerial Assaults
In 2022, Ukraine began deploying hardware powered by artificial intelligence across its cities as part of an effort to revolutionize the way its military identifies incoming aerial assaults. “Zvook,” meaning “sound” in Ukrainian, is a microphone and acoustic mirror system that uses machine learning to detect incoming helicopters, drones, jet fighters, and cruise missiles at low to medium heights.
In just the first year of the war, Ukraine had successfully deployed 40 instances of the system throughout the country. It is unclear just how many of these systems are in use today, and there has been no word about how the tool was deployed during the June 6 assault on Kyiv and other major cities – but the technology has been so successful that the defense ministries of some NATO countries have expressed interest in developing similar systems of their own.
Zvook consists of a network of microphones that have been installed throughout Ukraine. The microphones record ambient sounds, which are then processed by artificial intelligence software to identify the sounds of incoming planes, drones, and projectiles.
Reports suggest that Zvook can detect a drone at a distance of up to 5 km and cruise missiles from 7 km – and while these distances are substantially lower than traditional sensors like radar, they are cheaper, nearly impossible to identify from the air, and easy to install.
What’s more, the longer the tools are used, the more accurate they become. As the Zvook system hears more, it learns more – and the more it learns, the better it gets at identifying targets from as far away as possible.
For Ukrainian forces making the most of the air defense systems they have, advance warnings of aerial strikes are crucial – but it’s only a matter of time before their supply of missiles runs out.
Recent reports suggest that Ukraine’s supply of Patriot-compatible interceptors had dwindled to fewer than 200.
Following Russia’s June 6 strikes, that number could well be much lower.
About the Author:
Jack Buckby is a British author, counter-extremism researcher, and journalist based in New York. Reporting on the U.K., Europe, and the U.S., he works to analyze and understand left-wing and right-wing radicalization, and reports on Western governments’ approaches to the pressing issues of today. His books and research papers explore these themes and propose pragmatic solutions to our increasingly polarized society. His latest book is The Truth Teller: RFK Jr. and the Case for a Post-Partisan Presidency.
Hypersonic Weapons In Depth
Russia’s Hypersonic Missiles Summed Up in 4 Words
Pingback: The U.S. Military Has a New Russia Problem: Hypersonic Weapons - National Security Journal
Pingback: The Russian Military Is Advancing Deeper Into Ukraine - National Security Journal