Ukraine Finds Shahed With Mystery Antenna—and Says Russia May Be Running a Bizarre Spy Scheme

Ukraine has discovered another Russian Shahed drone fitted with an unexplained long antenna, potentially linked to an unusual intelligence-gathering scheme involving recruited informants and ordinary FM radios, according to Serhii “Flash” Beskrestnov, presidential adviser on defense technology, on July 20.

The drone was found in Ukraine’s Chernihiv region. Beskrestnov said specialists are waiting for an intact example to be recovered so they can test the theory and determine the antenna’s actual purpose.

“Another Shahed with an unexplained antenna has been detected. I am very much looking forward to it being recovered as a trophy so that we can confirm the assumptions about how it is used,” he wrote.

According to Beskrestnov’s working theory, Russian intelligence recruits collaborators through social media and instructs them to purchase a radio receiver and a voice recorder.

At a specified time, the recruited person allegedly tunes the receiver to an unused frequency—Beskrestnov used 85.5 MHz as an example—and leaves the recorder running beside it. The resulting audio file is then sent to a designated Telegram account.

Meanwhile, the Shahed is believed to carry an FM transmitter that continuously broadcasts encoded information about its flight.

Beskrestnov suggested the arrangement could allow Russia to collect data from the drone without relying on conventional military communications infrastructure, though he stressed that the idea still needs to be confirmed through examination of captured hardware.

He openly mocked the apparent complexity of the alleged scheme.

“This technologically idiotic operation clearly has some GRU colonel over the age of 60 behind it, who considers himself a genius and probably even received an award,” Beskrestnov wrote.

“Just imagine creating this entire espionage ‘operation’ for the sake of some nonsense,” he added.

Previously, Russia began equipping its low-cost Molniya attack drones with one of the oldest navigation tools ever invented—a magnetic compass. The device serves as a backup navigation aid, helping the drones maintain their course when satellite navigation signals are disrupted by electronic warfare.

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