[Goose]

The article mentions utility against day-flying drones. What about IR detection of drones at night?  I always thought an internal combustion engine would be very easily spotted with IR. Only the gunner would need to use IR.

The pilot would need IR to fly the gunner close enough to the drone to hit it. This could be accomplished by wearing NVGs. Unfortunately the "range" of such devices is on the order of 600 meters. This is "detection" range, not "recognition range". To actually look for drones at any distance one needs something like this : https://www.flir.com/products/ranger-hdc...rveillance. Finding a target with these types of FLIR is possible but not NEARLY as easy as during daylight. The narrow field of view makes initially detecting them difficult. They may indeed be very "bright" targets, but you have to notice them through a somewhat small aperture. I am pretty sure Ukraine looked at what was required and said "maybe later". Operating at night also greatly increases "losses due to operation". Just finding your way "home" across a darkened landscape can be a challenge. I imagine all navaids have been shut down. GPS may or may not be working, etc.

[Goose]

The article mentions utility against day-flying drones. What about IR detection of drones at night?  I always thought an internal combustion engine would be very easily spotted with IR. Only the gunner would need to use IR.

The pilot would need IR to fly the gunner close enough to the drone to hit it. This could be accomplished by wearing NVGs. Unfortunately the "range" of such devices is on the order of 600 meters. This is "detection" range, not "recognition range". To actually look for drones at any distance one needs something like this : https://www.flir.com/products/ranger-hdc...rveillance. Finding a target with these types of FLIR is possible but not NEARLY as easy as during daylight. The narrow field of view makes initially detecting them difficult. They may indeed be very "bright" targets, but you have to notice them through a somewhat small aperture. I am pretty sure Ukraine looked at what was required and said "maybe later". Operating at night also greatly increases "losses due to operation". Just finding your way "home" across a darkened landscape can be a challenge. I imagine all navaids have been shut down. GPS may or may not be working, etc.