Ukrainian company brings aerostats back to modern warfare

Aerostat platforms—often seen as an archaic technology that many readers associate with the Second World War—are gaining renewed relevance on the battlefield in Ukraine as they combine with drones and modern reconnaissance systems. In a war shaped by unmanned aircraft, electronic warfare, and rapidly evolving battlefield technology, these tethered platforms are finding a new role as persistent airborne infrastructure.

Ukrainian defence technology company Aerobavovna has adapted aerostat systems to meet the operational demands of modern warfare and has already delivered a series of specialized aerostat platforms to Ukrainian forces. The systems are designed to support surveillance, communications relay, and electronic monitoring tasks linked to the growing use of unmanned aerial systems across the front.

The development reflects lessons drawn from Ukraine’s experience in large-scale, high-intensity warfare, where military units increasingly rely on networks of drones that require stable communication links and continuous data transmission. As the number of unmanned systems operating on the battlefield continues to expand, maintaining reliable control and signal relay has become an operational challenge.

In an interview with Defence Blog, Aerobavovna Chief Executive Officer Yuriy Vysoven said the aerostat sector remains relatively unknown despite its past operational use by several militaries.

“The market of aerostat systems is quite closed, so little is known about it. Although those who served in Iraq or Afghanistan saw how actively the United States used them,” Vysoven said. “In fact, modern aerostats are high-tech platforms that carry complex payloads: radars, communication systems, relays, and other sensors.”

According to Vysoven, unmanned aerial vehicles remain central to modern combat operations, but their effectiveness depends heavily on the infrastructure that supports them.

“UAVs indeed play a key role, but managing a large network of drones requires communication and relay infrastructure,” he said. “This is where a new market is forming, and aerostats can become an important element of such infrastructure.”

Aerostat systems historically served primarily as platforms for observation and radar monitoring. The war in Ukraine has highlighted an additional operational role: acting as persistent communication relays in areas where ground infrastructure is exposed to artillery, drone strikes, or electronic warfare.

“Historically the main tasks were observation and radar monitoring,” Vysoven said. “The current war has shown another important function: signal relay. Aerostats are well suited for this because they can remain in the air for days and provide continuous communication in places where ground infrastructure is too vulnerable.”

Unlike drones, which are limited by battery life and require frequent recovery and relaunch, aerostats can remain airborne for extended periods. This endurance allows them to maintain stable communication networks or support sensor operations without interruption.

“To control a drone at long distances and at low altitude, the relay needs to be raised into the sky,” Vysoven said. “This can be done by another drone, but its time in the air is limited. An aerostat can operate around the clock. The second direction is SIGINT: continuous analysis of the radio spectrum from altitude provides additional capabilities for detecting targets.”

The ongoing war has also influenced how aerostat systems are designed and deployed. Large, expensive platforms equipped with advanced radars can become attractive targets if placed close to active combat zones.

“So far it is not visible that our practical experience is widely taken into account,” Vysoven said. “But events such as the destruction of the Israeli aerostat with radar show the vulnerability of very expensive systems. Most likely the market will move toward a larger number of smaller and cheaper platforms instead of single systems costing hundreds of millions of dollars.”

Aerobavovna says interest in its aerostat technology is emerging beyond Ukraine. The company is currently preparing its first export sale to a customer in the European Union.

“We are preparing the first sale in the EU and hope to announce it soon,” Vysoven said. “In general, there is interest in the technology in many regions—from Europe to the Gulf countries, as well as from Canada.”

Several countries—including Japan, the United States, Israel, Poland, and Russia—have renewed attention to aerostat systems in recent years, particularly for surveillance and radar missions. Vysoven said that outside Israel many of these programs still focus on large aerostats equipped with costly radar payloads.

“In most countries, with the exception of Israel, these are mainly large aerostats with very expensive radars,” he said. “At the same time we carefully follow the development of technologies in different countries, including Russia.”

Ukrainian systems are being developed under different operational conditions shaped by active front-line warfare, where mobility and rapid deployment are essential.

“Ukrainian systems are formed under different conditions of use: restrictions on distance from the front line, the risk of being hit, and the need for very rapid deployment,” Vysoven said. “In many Western operations aerostats were deployed in relatively safe zones, so the requirements for mobility and speed were much lower.”

Aerobavovna believes that these battlefield-driven requirements could help Ukrainian developers compete in the emerging European market for aerostat technologies.

“In Europe there are almost no domestic manufacturers of aerostat systems—traditionally American ones were used,” Vysoven said. “Now an opportunity is forming for local companies to appear, and we expect to occupy our niche both in the EU market and beyond.”

The renewed interest in aerostat platforms highlights how older military technologies can regain relevance when combined with modern unmanned systems and network-centric operations. In Ukraine’s case, these platforms offer a practical way to extend communications, maintain persistent observation, and support electronic monitoring across contested areas where traditional infrastructure cannot survive.