The exercise of the battalion tactical group of the marine corps of the Caspian Flotilla (CFL) will for the first time involve mobile units to counter UAVs.
This was reported by the press service of the Southern Military District (YuVO).
"In total, more than 500 CFL servicemen will be involved in the exercises, about 200 units of military and special equipment will be involved," the website of the RF Ministry of Defense says.
KFL mobile units will consist of representatives of several military specialties.
In particular, operators of electronic warfare (EW) equipment play an important role.
According to the legend of the exercise, they must detect and classify the drones of the imaginary enemy and transmit the received data to the electronic warfare and air defense systems.
“Also, the calculations of the R-934BMV and R-330Zh“ Zhitel ”electronic warfare systems will ensure the interception, suppression of control channels and the transmission of multimedia information from the“ enemy's ”UAV,” the press service of the Southern Military District said.
In addition to the electronic warfare operators, in the elimination of the threat from the drones of a potential enemy, sniper units on duty will be involved, "which will perform tasks to detect and neutralize small targets."
"To hit targets at altitudes from 50 to 400 meters, servicemen will use 7.62-mm SVD sniper rifles and 12.7-mm ASVK sniper systems, which can hit targets at ranges of up to 1500 m," the military department's website says.
In addition, the crews of the Igla portable anti-aircraft missile system (MANPADS) will provide fire support to the participants in the exercise.
Currently, the arsenal of the Russian army includes a modification of this air defense system, adapted for the defeat of drones.
"Interference situation"
In a commentary on RT, military expert Vladislav Shurygin noted that in the modern theater of operations (TMD), due to the widespread use of drones of various types, it is no longer possible to rely solely on traditional air defense systems - radar stations (radars) and anti-aircraft systems.
In this regard, recently in the units of the Russian Armed Forces, a variety of methods of detecting and eliminating the threat of UAV attacks have been practiced.
The expert believes that the teachings of the marine corps of the Caspian Flotilla are aimed more at defense against small-sized drones and handicraft drones, which are quite actively used by illegal armed formations (IAF).
"Pantsir" and "Tor" anti-aircraft complexes worked perfectly in Syria, but in general, intercepting such a device with standard air defense systems, especially missiles, is often incomparable in cost.
Because the price of a UAV, as a rule, is ten times less than an anti-aircraft missile that intercepts it, ”explained Shurygin.
UAVs of Syrian terrorists
© mil.ru
In a conversation with RT, the founder of the Military Russia portal, Dmitry Kornev, also drew attention to the importance of adhering to the principle of economic expediency when improving ways to neutralize threats from unmanned aircraft.
“The experience of conflicts in the Middle East, regular attacks on the Khmeimim airbase and the Tartus naval support point, as well as the sabotage against Saudi Aramco in 2019 clearly showed how serious weapons seemingly very simple-minded drones have become.
Now, for reliable protection from drones, special priority is given to electronic warfare equipment, "Kornev emphasized.
According to the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, it is the calculations of electronic warfare systems that play a key role in the defense against UAVs.
The military came to this conclusion thanks to the experience gained in the Syrian operation.
Improvements in electronic warfare have led to a reduction in the number of attacks on an air base in the Arab Republic.
“On the basis of the high efficiency of electronic warfare and electronic warfare troops as a whole, the enemy is using less and less various technical means to attack the Khmeimim airbase,” Vadim Revin, the commander of the electronic warfare service of the Russian group of forces in the republic, told reporters in mid-April.
The use of electronic warfare products makes it possible to intercept control and navigation channels of drones.
After that, the military personnel have the opportunity to land an enemy drone, study its design and electronic stuffing to further improve the methods of dealing with such devices.
During the Syrian operation for the defense of Tartus, the Russian military created a kind of protective dome against the UAVs of the militants.
It consists of the Pole-21 jamming delivery module and the Ratnik-Kupol complex designed to suppress UAV control channels.
“The complex introduces an interference environment into the coordinate system of the unmanned aerial vehicle, thus creating a kind of a dome around the basing point, falling into which, the unmanned aerial vehicle gets disoriented and falls to the ground.
It is impossible to fly over this dome, because the complex covers all the heights at which unmanned aerial vehicles can operate, ”Denis Kulikov, head of the Tartus electronic warfare service, told reporters earlier.
According to experts, Russian troops have a wide range of electronic warfare systems that help neutralize the threat from drones.
For example, the R-934BMV product, which will be used in the exercises of the Caspian Flotilla, is a jamming station from the Borisoglebsk-2 electronic warfare system.
There is practically no data on the characteristics of the station in the public domain.
Nevertheless, it is known that Borisoglebsk-2 is capable of effectively suppressing radio, radio relay and satellite channels of communication, control, as well as data transmission of unmanned aircraft.
The R-330Zh "Zhitel", which will be used by the KFL servicemen, is also an automated jamming station.
Its main weapon is four active transmitting phased antenna arrays, which are housed in a separate mobile container.
The complex is designed to disable subscriber terminals of satellite communication systems Inmarsat, "Iridium", navigation equipment for GPS consumers, base stations and terminal devices of cellular radio communication systems of the GSM-1800 standard.
Intensive improvement
Despite the success of Russia in the development of electronic warfare equipment, experts consider it necessary to combine observation and destruction means to guarantee protection against UAV attacks.
According to Kornev, the exercise, which will be held in the Caspian Flotilla, indicates that the practice of mass training in countering unmanned aerial vehicles is being introduced into the Russian army.
“The modern theater of war requires snipers and infantry to detect and engage drones.
It can be recorded both by its characteristic sound and with the help of optical devices, and, if we are talking about small devices at low altitude, it is quite possible to destroy it with fire from standard small arms - machine guns, machine guns, sniper rifles, ”says Kornev.
Machine gunner of the RF Armed Forces
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© mil.ru
Earlier, servicemen of the 35th Combined Arms Army (Amur Region) began to practice sniper fire at aircraft and quadrocopter UAVs.
Shooting is carried out mainly from the ground, sometimes from the sides of helicopters and during the so-called mountain forest hunting, when military personnel make hidden transitions for tens of kilometers in unfamiliar terrain in order to eliminate the command staff of enemy troops.
True, as stated in the materials of the military department, the task of hitting drones from sniper weapons is complicated by the need for preliminary calculations taking into account the wind, speed and trajectory of the targets.
Balloons are often used as targets to hone these skills.
In June, a similar exercise took place in South Ossetia at the military base of the 58th Combined Arms Army.
According to the plan of the exercise, the enemy tried to conduct reconnaissance with the help of a UAV.
However, the drones were spotted using radar stations.
This gave time for snipers to reach the firing lines and destroy the drones.
“Information about them (the drones of the conditional enemy. -
RT
) came to the desk of the duty officer, then the snipers quickly moved to prepared positions, from where they conducted visual observation.
Target control was complicated by the fog, due to which the UAVs merged with the surrounding environment and disappeared from view.
The servicemen fired at a record range of up to 1.3 km, ”the press service of the Southern Military District said.
Helium-filled balloons were launched one at a time at different rates.
The sniper pair had to quickly identify such targets and successfully shoot at them with a minimum amount of ammunition.
To give the ball the speed and unpredictability of flight, the servicemen performed the exercise in windy weather.
“The main thing is to timely detect the UAV.
The choice of means of destruction is optional.
Apparently, now our military has come to the conclusion that in combination with the radar, it is possible to use infantry, that is, to do without special material costs, destroying targets that can cause a lot of harm, "Shurygin emphasized.
Dmitry Kornev believes that in the Russian army there is a tendency to an increase in the number of tactical techniques for neutralizing UAVs.
“The Russian army and industry are largely based on the experience of the Syrian operation and other conflicts. As a result, we see that in recent years in Russia armaments and methods of countering unmanned aerial vehicles have been intensively improved, "Kornev summed up.