Additional evidence of advanced, recently developed Russian military hardware was discovered in the Donbas last week. @DFRLab found two photographs depicting a newly-produced satellite communications module in non-government-controlled eastern Ukraine. This finding marks the second known combat deployment of this system.

@DFRLab has extensively reported the presence of Russian military hardware in eastern Ukraine, particularly noting the newer electronic warfare and drone systems that are in non-government-controlled Ukraine due to the direct and deliberate actions from the Russian military. These systems, in addition to more kinetic Russian assistance, significantly enhance Russian-led separatist fighting capabilities through support mechanisms such as psychological operations via signal interception, reconnaissance, and enhanced communications.

While Russia has decreased the number of active duty servicemen and heavy weaponry sent to eastern Ukraine, it has maintained — if not increased — both the quantity and quality of non-lethal equipment, along with continuing to provide the necessary personnel with technical knowledge of these systems, such as electronic warfare specialists.

The System

On June 9, 2018, ВКонтакте (VKontakte or VK) user Artyom Donetsk posted an album with several photographs, which spanned an uncertain timeframe and depicted his activity as a Russia-led separatist fighter in the Donetsk oblast of eastern Ukraine.

The album included two photographs of him posing with another fighter outside of a building complex with an army green satellite dish deployed in the background. This radar dish is identical in appearance to the Russian Auriga-1.2V (Аурига-1.2В) satellite communications system, which went into production in 2014. This system has never been exported to Ukraine or used by its armed forces. In other words, it can only be in eastern Ukraine through direct Russian assistance to separatists.

Photographs of the Russian Auriga-1.2V (Аурига-1.2В) (Source left: VK / Artyom Donetsk; Source right: http://forums.airbase.ru)

@DFRLab compared the image of the satellite dish in the image with rear-side imagery of an Auriga-1.2V atop the newly-commissioned Admiral Grigorovich-class frigate Admiral Essen of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet to confirm the system in question.

In 2016, this system was spotted in service with the Russian military in Syria. @DFRLab was unable to find evidence for any previous recorded sightings of this satellite system in eastern Ukraine.

One of the first sightings of the Auriga-1.2V was in 2015 for the Russian Ministry of Defense’s (MoD) “Day of Innovation” (День инноваций) at a fair in the far-eastern port city of Vladivostok. The Auriga was on display with a card listing its specifications.

(Source: Военный Информатор)

The card listed a number of general, technical, and mechanical characteristics and included its production date of 2014, meaning that this system could not be in eastern Ukraine without the direct involvement of the Russian military. Other notable specifications included the following three points:

- Application in operationally deployed satellite communications stations, including VSAT technology. Works in field conditions. - Compatibility with Intelsat and Eutelsat - Operation under severe environmental conditions

This wide compatibility means that the systems with which the Auriga was communicating may have been commercial, off the shelf. Within the Russian Ministry of Defense, the Auriga-1.2V is part of a larger package named MK VTR-016 (МК ВТР-016), a mobile video transmission system.

Other components of the system include a Dallmeier camera and a Huawei router. At a June 2018 military exhibition, it was revealed that the MK VTR-016 is:

Designed to organize video broadcast in an open segment of a data network. Thanks to the upgraded router, it has the ability to manage and support multiple live video broadcasts in the allocated virtual private networks. A feature of the kit is the presence of a satellite communications station, which allows the transmission of video content from any point in the world. The station of satellite communication Auriga 1.2 is intended for the organization of high-speed duplex channels of satellite communication when operating through a space station on geostationary orbit of the type “Express”, “Yamal” and others in the C or Ku-Band.

Other similar satellite communications systems were previously spotted in the Donbas, including the Barrier-T ( Барьер-Т), a battlefield communications system.

Geolocating the Auriga satellite system

Thanks to the observations of one #DigitalSherlock, @DFRLab has a possible location for where these pictures were taken.

Below, a rough composite of the area with stitched-together images shows the U-shaped building in the background of the photographs with the Auriga system, along with a potential match with geolocation.

The images depict facility held by so-called Donetsk People’s Republic’s (DNR) 11th Motor-Rifle Regiment “Vostok” in the Donetsk suburb of Makiivka, as marked on @5urpher’s map over bases in Russian-led separatist-held Donbas.