In a large article, the New York Times Magazine tells about the technological progress in the Ukrainian drone war.
For this purpose, the authorities in Kiev are testing unmanned aerial vehicles with navigation without GPS.
This ensured the autonomy of the strike drones in the final stage of the flight, when at a close distance from the target they are able to hit it without the participation of an operator.
GPS is vulnerable to external and artificial interference and around very valuable objects Russia jams satellite navigation.
In 2024, the American entrepreneur Brian Stream founded the company "Vermeer" (Vermeer), which is developing a visual positioning system (VPS).
In this system, images from the drone's cameras are compared with a built-in three-dimensional map of the terrain. Such a drone is invulnerable to electronic warfare measures, since it does not transmit or receive signals.
The system is effective for relatively slow devices with speeds of up to 350 km/h, which corresponds to the speed of drones.
Since the summer of 2025, the newspaper writes, "Vermeer" modules have begun to be installed on Ukrainian drones attacking targets deep in Russian territory.
The company did not give specific examples, but Brian Stream and one of his associates in Ukraine reported that they had confirmed several hits.