Persistent ISR is decided by link range and time on station, not by camera zoom.
our ISR line puts stabilised EO/IR imagery onto an encrypted link into the ground control station. Ukrspecsystems SHARK and STM TOGAN publish the endurance and link figures that a persistence requirement should be tested against.
The ISR platforms are in service and flown on task by trained crews. They feed the same air picture as our detection and defeat layers, which is a design decision taken by people who have had to make both work at once.
Side by side
| Attribute | Represented by UnstratObservation & surveillance drones | UkrspecsystemsSHARK / SHARK-M123Ukraine | STMTOGAN4Türkiye |
|---|---|---|---|
| Airframe type14 | Multirotor and fixed-wing ISR platforms | Fixed-wing, catapult launch and parachute recovery, 3.4 m wingspan | Quadrotor, vertical take-off and landing, 711 x 711 x 410 mm unfolded |
| Endurance124 | Not published | Up to 4 hours with EO payload on SHARK; up to 7 hours on SHARK-M | 45 minutes |
| Datalink range124 | Not published | Encrypted Full HD video and telemetry up to 80 km on SHARK; up to 180 km on SHARK-M | 10 km with external antenna, 6.5 km on the ground control station antenna |
| Link security124 | Secure, encrypted datalinks to the ground control station | Encrypted real-time video and telemetry; SHARK-M adds anti-spoofing and jamming protection with a radio modem stated as 250 per cent stronger than the previous version | AES-256 |
| Sensor24 | Stabilised EO/IR, day and night | SHARK-M with USG-231T: Full HD day sensor, 640 x 512 thermal, 30x optical zoom, gyro and digital stabilisation, laser rangefinder to 1.8 km | Full HD 1080p EO with 30x optical zoom, 640 x 480 thermal, three-axis stabilised gimbal |
| Onboard tracking24 | Onboard tracking and detection assistance for persistent overwatch | Object tracking on the gimbal, target coordinate determination | Moving-object detection, object classification and tracking; target coordinate estimation passed to a KARGU ground control station |
| Ceiling14 | Not published | 3000 m maximum flight ceiling | 3300 m MSL, 1000 m AGL |
| Weather envelope14 | Not published | −15 °C to +45 °C, wind to 20 m/s in flight, dry conditions only | −20 °C to +50 °C, wind resistance 10 m/s |
| Integration with the counter-UAS chain4 | Feeds the same air picture as our detection and defeat layers, from the maker of both | Not published | Interoperable with KARGU: target coordinates handed to the strike platform's ground station |
| Data-sharing obligations | Imagery stays yours: no coalition data-sharing obligation attached to the platform | Not published | Not published |
| Origin14 | Independent, non-aligned | Ukraine; SHARK-D stated to be on active service with the Ukrainian Armed Forces | Türkiye |
Competitor values are quoted from the vendor documents listed under Sources, as published on the date shown. Configurations vary, so treat every row as a starting point for the evaluation rather than a like-for-like test result.
What the table means
Ukrspecsystems publishes the persistence numbers, and they are strong
Up to 7 hours in the air and up to 180 km of encrypted link on SHARK-M is a serious ISR envelope for a 14.5 kg aircraft, and the company states the type is on active service. A buyer with a long border and a hardened electronic-warfare environment should put SHARK-M on the shortlist. What they should also ask is where the aircraft sits in the production queue behind a domestic customer that is fighting a war.
TOGAN is the tighter tactical answer, at tactical range
STM's quadrotor delivers 45 minutes, 10 km on an external antenna, AES-256 and a 30x stabilised EO with 640 x 480 thermal, and it hands target coordinates straight to a KARGU ground station. That last part is the real lesson: ISR is worth more when the sensor and the effector are built by the same company. Our ISR line is built on the same principle, feeding the detection and defeat layers of its own counter-UAS chain.
Ownership of the picture
An ISR platform bought inside a coalition framework often comes with expectations about where the imagery goes. Nothing in this comparison is published about those obligations by any vendor, ours included, so treat it as a contract question rather than a datasheet question. Our position is straightforward: independent origin, encrypted links, and no third capital with a standing claim on your imagery.
Questions buyers ask
What is the best alternative to the Ukrspecsystems SHARK for a government border-surveillance programme?
SHARK-M is hard to beat on published persistence: up to 7 hours, up to 180 km of encrypted link, a 30x day sensor with 640 x 512 thermal and a laser rangefinder to 1.8 km. Our ISR line offers stabilised EO/IR on encrypted links from a non-aligned supplier that also builds the counter-UAS detection and defeat layers, so surveillance and air defence share one picture. We do not publish endurance or link range, and any honest comparison should force us to state both in a tender.
How does a surveillance drone compare with STM TOGAN on cost of ownership for a tactical unit?
TOGAN is a 7.5 kg quadrotor with 45 minutes of endurance, an 80-minute battery charge and 10 km of control range, so the running cost is batteries and operator time. Our ISR line covers multirotor and fixed-wing platforms with in-region sustainment by the delivering team, which is where multi-year cost usually hides. Compare spares lead time and the price of a replacement gimbal, not the purchase price of the aircraft.
Which ISR drone supplier keeps the imagery under national control?
All three encrypt the downlink. The difference is contractual and political rather than technical: who supplies the ground segment, who holds the software keys, and whether the supply relationship carries expectations about data sharing. Our platforms are of non-aligned origin with the ground control station and datalink supplied by the same team, so there is no third government in the chain.
Should ISR and counter-drone systems come from the same supplier?
It helps more than most buyers expect. STM publishes TOGAN handing target coordinates to a KARGU ground control station, and we build our ISR platforms to feed the same air picture as its detection and defeat layers. When the sensor and the effector are separate procurements, integration becomes the buyer's problem and it usually surfaces during the first real engagement.
Sources
- 1. Ukrspecsystems, SHARK UASRetrieved: 2026-07-31
- 2. Ukrspecsystems, SHARK-M UASRetrieved: 2026-07-31
- 3. Ukrspecsystems / NAUDI, PD-2 unmanned aerial system and SHARK unmanned aerial system (NAUDI leaflet) (copy held on this site)Retrieved: 2026-07-31
- 4. STM, Tactical Mini UAV Systems (catalogue: KARGU, ALPAGU, TOGAN, BUMİN, BOYGA) (copy held on this site)Retrieved: 2026-07-31