Russia’s Rosoboronexport arms exporting agency is demonstrating Russian systems designed for the counteraction to unmanned aerial vehicles of all types, at the international aviation and space exhibition Dubai Airshow 2019, corporate website reports.
“Today, unmanned aerial vehicles pose threats not only in the military sphere. In our daily life we see more and more examples when drones are used for illegal purposes, i.e. for espionage, transportation of cargoes and even for terrorist attacks. Taking that into account, industry enterprises, including Rostec, are creating a wide range of assets of electronic countermeasures – on different platforms, in various form-factors, as well as highly mobile systems, which may be quickly deployed on civilian installations and industrial enterprises. Such systems are capable of detecting drones of different sizes, identifying them, overtaking control and effectively disabling them. The global demand for such products is extremely high, and anticipated to reach $2 bln in the next five years,” Rostec CEO Sergey Chemezov said.
Small and miniature UAVs are widely used not only by regular armies, but also by terrorist organizations and criminal groups. Low cost, availability and friendly control interface make drones one of the most effective assets for achieving illegal goals.
“Just recently terrorists in the Middle East showed that disregard for this problem may result in critical outcomes for strategic industries of a separate state and even influence the global financial market. Classical defensive assets turned out to be helpless against this challenge, which was admitted by their producers. In response to the situation Rosoboronexport came up with unique solutions to protect critical transportation, fuel and nuclear infrastructure from attacks. We have already sent to our partners in the Middle East, North Africa and other regions our proposals, including services on building a layered point and area system of electronic countermeasures. This system will provide a reliable protection of territories and sites from single UAVs, as well as from their groups, including swarms of drones,” Rosoboronexport CEO Alexander Mikheev noted.
The layered point and area system of electronic countermeasures against small-sized unmanned aerial vehicles may, at customer’s request, include a number of elements, which differ in their radius of action, mobility and characteristics of covered sites and territories. Area coverage of territories is provided by the Repellent electronic warfare complex, which is designed and produced by Defensive Systems. The complex detects UAVs and ground control station via their transmitted radio signals, determines UAV type and flight direction, and then suppresses its data links, depriving it of communication, control and navigation. The distinctive feature of this complex is its ability to jam all UAV’s control circuits. Repellent is capable of detecting and suppressing UAVs at a distance of 30 or more kilometers. The complex may operate in any season, climate zones, and in the most unfavorable weather conditions, including dust, rain and strong wind.
To cover critical infrastructure such as airfields, nuclear stations or energy industry sites, etc., Rosoboronexport offers a wide spectrum of products of the Avtomatika Concern.
The Sapsan-Bekas mobile multi-purpose complex of countering unmanned aerial vehicles uses both passive and active means of detection. It provides for a guaranteed detection of all types of UAVs, including the ones with a minimized access to radio networks. The complex is capable of carrying all-round observation and scanning an assigned sector. Sapsan-Bekas may detect UAVs by means of electronic intelligence at a range of no less than 20 kilometers, and by means of active radio location at a distance of 10 kilometers. The complex also includes systems of optical and electronic recognition of UAVs, i.e. a video camera of a visible spectrum and a cooled thermal scope. The range of drones’ recognition by optical assets is up to 8 kilometers.
The range of jamming of control and navigation networks depends on the offered configuration and may reach 30 kilometers, as per customers’ requirements. Besides, the complex may act as a target designation asset for other electronic countermeasures and air defence systems.
Kupol and Rubezh-Avtomatika complexes continuously observe the area and create an umbrella dome over the installation. This is a barrier, which cannot be overcome and which is capable of repelling attacks of single drones and their groups, coming from different directions and heights in a radius of no less than three kilometers.
Luch portable complex may be quickly deployed and used for the protection of various installations. It detects UAVs and creates interferences, which jam control and navigation circuits in an assigned sector at a range of no less than six kilometers.
Pishchal portable complex performs similar missions. Its weight is only 3.5 kilograms, so it is one of the lightest products, offered in the market. This means that Pishchal may be included in individual sets of equipment. The range of jamming of control and navigation circuits of UAVs is 2 kilometers.