For years, radio frequency (RF) detection has been the spine of counter-drone operations worldwide. Navy bases, airports, and demanding infrastructure have invested billions in programs designed to identify unauthorized drones by listening for his or her telemetry indicators and communication hyperlinks.
However based on new knowledge offered to The Drone Lady from Dedrone by Axon, that basis is crumbling beneath our ft.
RF detection isn’t what it was
In September 2025, Dedrone by Axon shared some key insights into its operational datasets from 2024 and 2025 throughout Europe, the Center East, and Asia in a report titled The State of Airspace Protection Immediately and What’s Subsequent.
Dedrone by Axon builds merchandise that may monitor airspace and detect undesirable drones in there. The airspace safety firm can then mitigate these threats utilizing its know-how.
And its newest report reveals an fascinating pattern: whereas over 80% of present drone detections nonetheless depend on RF programs, a rising variety of drone operations are intentionally avoiding radio indicators altogether. This shift towards “RF-silent” flights represents is actually a compelling tactical evolution. For protection groups, it’s a risk to its detection infrastructure.
Simply look to the warfare in Ukraine. Ukraine’s current army operations have demonstrated how pre-programmed drones will be deployed with none radio communication, navigating to targets utilizing GPS coordinates, inertial navigation and even visible recognition programs. When these drones go fully darkish, conventional RF sensors change into as helpful as listening for telegraph indicators within the smartphone age.
How drone pilots keep away from RF detection
Fashionable drone operators have a number of methods to keep away from RF detection, and the know-how is turning into extra accessible. Examples embody:
Fiber-Optic tethers: These present a bodily connection between operator and drone that’s fully proof against jamming and invisible to RF sensors. Whereas they restrict vary, they’re good for reconnaissance missions or short-range assaults.
Pre-programmed navigation: Drones will be loaded with flight paths and targets earlier than takeoff, eliminating the necessity for real-time communication. Superior variations use SLAM (Simultaneous Localization and Mapping) know-how to navigate visually, like a drone model of a self-driving automotive.
Autonomous swarms: Utilizing AI coordination, a number of drones can function as a unit with minimal or no radio communication, sharing info by means of mesh networks or working on predetermined algorithms.
Sign Spoofing: Somewhat than going silent, some operators are feeding false info to RF detection programs, making malicious drones seem as pleasant plane or civilian visitors.
Fly at evening: Dedrone’s report discovered that 37.5% of all drone detections in 2025 occurred throughout evening operations. That’s a transparent indication that operators are exploiting decreased visibility to keep away from visible detection whereas concurrently working to defeat RF sensors.
This tactical shift is sensible from an operational perspective. For those who can fly with out radio indicators throughout low-visibility circumstances, you’ve eradicated two of the three major detection strategies (RF and visible) that the majority protection programs depend on. Solely radar and acoustic sensors stay viable, and each have important limitations towards small, slow-moving targets.
The ability of DIY drones towards drone detection programs
Dedrone’s knowledge reveals a 4.3x enhance in DIY drone detections in 2025 in comparison with 2024. These custom-built platforms typically function on modified or totally proprietary communication protocols that don’t match the RF signatures that detection programs are skilled to acknowledge.
Not like industrial drones from main producers like DJI, which use standardized communication protocols, DIY builds can make use of something from modified RC automotive controllers to fully {custom} radio programs — or no radio in any respect. This range makes it almost not possible for RF detection programs to keep up complete signature libraries.
What now? These sensors are higher
The demise of RF-centric detection requires a whole rethinking of sensor structure, Dedrone says. That would embody:
Radar integration: Fashionable radar programs have gotten extra refined at distinguishing drone-sized targets from environmental litter, however they should be paired with different sensors for dependable identification.
Acoustic detection: Drones nonetheless make noise, and acoustic sensors can establish the distinctive sound signatures of various rotor configurations. Nonetheless, even that is tough as advances in electrical propulsion are making drones quieter.
Visible and thermal imaging: AI-powered cameras can establish drones visually, even at evening utilizing thermal signatures. However they require clear traces of sight and will be defeated by climate or camouflage.
What to anticipate going ahead
Most drone detections programs are designed across the assumption that hostile or overseas drones would wish to speak with their operators. Take away that assumption, and the whole detection structure turns into unreliable.
“The drone risk is evolving quicker than most defenses can reply,” stated Aaditya Devarakonda, CEO of Dedrone by Axon.
And the problem will possible solely compound as RF detection continues to say no in effectiveness. As autonomous navigation improves and turns into extra accessible, extra operators will undertake RF-silent ways.
Organizations which have invested closely in radio-based counter-drone programs will possible have to spend cash to upgraded or substitute their infrastructure with multi-sensor platforms. For its half, Dedrone by Axon, which launched the information, makes such platforms.
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