News 147K views since yesterday

Ukraine pairs an old Browning with AI drone targeting

The Sun's Wes O'Donnell examines Sky Sentinel, a turret designed to counter Russian drones without the cost of guided missiles.

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The Sun Story of November 3, 2026Trari Newsroom

Why this story? One of The Sun's most watched videos since yesterday, with 147,302 views.

Ukraine turned this 90-year-old gun into a drone killer and it’s destroying Putin’s jet drones

Things we can learn from the video

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0:50Sky Sentinel combines an M2 Browning machine gun with machine vision and computerised ballistic calculations.
1:47O'Donnell traces donor-funded development, testing against Shahed drones and reported deployments.
4:26External radar information and machine vision help the system acquire targets and distinguish drones from birds.
9:52O'Donnell compares the cost of machine-gun ammunition with guided air-defence missiles.
12:11A vehicle-mounted version appears in footage of Ukrainian military personnel operating the system.
14:19The closing analysis considers the system's limitations and the difficulties of scaling production.

The gun is an old design. The targeting system is the new part. In The Sun's analysis of Ukraine's Sky Sentinel air-defence turret, Wes O'Donnell explains how an M2 Browning heavy machine gun is being paired with machine vision and computerised fire control to intercept Russian attack drones.

"The real weapon is the fire control system bolted around the gun..." O'Donnell says. His report describes a system that receives external radar information, identifies targets through machine vision and calculates where to aim ahead of a moving drone. Distinguishing a Shahed from a bird is part of that task.

According to the report, donor-funded development through United24 led to testing and deployments around Kyiv and in the Sumy region. O'Donnell discusses reported interceptions, including jet-powered drones, and shows a vehicle-mounted version operated by Ukraine's 1021st Anti-Aircraft Missile and Artillery Brigade.

The economic argument is central: O'Donnell presents ordinary machine-gun ammunition as a less expensive option than guided air-defence missiles. But his explanation also dwells on the engineering difficulties. Accurate calculations still have to translate into accurate fire from a recoiling weapon.

"Software can calculate the perfect shot. Physics still gets the final vote," he says.

The video has drawn about 147,000 views since yesterday. Its closing sections turn from the system's reported combat record to the unresolved questions about its limitations and the challenge of producing it at scale.

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