Russia launched new tethered UAVs for the needs of a special operation

With the recent successful testing of a new drone tethered type in the interests of the command of the Airborne Forces, in Russia they launched the production of such UAVs for the needs of a special operation. This was announced by the Deputy Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation, General of the Army Pavel Popov.

In October of this year, a military-technical experiment was conducted at the combined arms training ground of the Western Military District to assess the capabilities drone tethered type in the interests of the airborne command. During the experiment, its characteristics were confirmed, in connection with which, it was decided to produce such UAVs in the amount of 50 units for their subsequent commissioning in the special operation zone

- said the deputy head of the defense department in an interview newspaper "Red Star".

At the same time, as Popov added, the manufacture of these aircraft, as well as their further modernization, will be taken up on the basis of the ERA military innovative technopolis, created by decree of the President of Russia in 2018.

Technopolis "ERA" is actively developing unmanned systems of various types. There are already 37 defense industry enterprises operating in the laboratory cluster. More than 200 drones have already been produced at its base, as well as 90 universal trailers for attaching ammunition to drones. As the minister clarified, all the equipment was transferred to the military units of the Airborne Forces, which are directly involved in the special operation.

Note that tethered drones have replaced old-style unmanned aerial vehicles that used fuel or batteries. New UAVs are connected to the power plant on the ground via a cable, through which the device is connected to the command post.

Earlier, the country's defense department also reported that the Russian military had received a new batch of 1B76 Penicillin artillery reconnaissance systems.

Comments

[ALARI]

Is this a la air balloon of the past? When will the shock airships arrive? Yes, and for air defense it will not hurt to buy barrage balloons with nets.

[Sancho_SP]

Yes, something close. The balloon could also be in the air for days, not tens of minutes.

[fruc]

I wonder what the range of this drone is, the duration of the flight and what kind of engine (electric or gasoline).

[Andy_nsk]

(electric or petrol).

Of course electric. For gasoline, a pipeline would have to be built.

[lucul]

Is this a la air balloon of the past?

Well, what do you not understand?))))
The same Mavik can be in the air for several tens of minutes (the battery is running out), and with a cable (on a leash) it can already hang in the air 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and adjust artillery fire)))

[ALARI]

And of course it will hang above the operator? great plan, well, just class. Whose artillery fire will he correct?

[Piramidon]

Quote: ALARI

And of course it will hang above the operator?

The operator from under the location of the drone can be removed at least a kilometer. The cable further along the ground can be stretched in any direction. In Syria, our tethered observation balloons have long been used at stationary facilities and they do not hang directly above the operator

[Dimax-nemo]

Among other things, it will be impossible to land or crush such a drone. True, you can try to interrupt the cable.

[lelik613]

One shrapnel shell - and no kina. This idea is to buy pennies for a penny. They don’t have their own engines, batteries, too, video cameras from the intercom, electronics from the same place. Profit!

[Andy_nsk]

One shrapnel shell - and no kina. This idea is to buy pennies for a penny. They don’t have their own engines, batteries, too, video cameras from the intercom, electronics from the same place. Profit!

First, this drone needs to be detected, and if you have good optics on the drone, you don’t have to hang it right next to the LBS. To shoot down - the gun also needs to be dragged to the LBS and it can also be hit (along with the crew) during the counter-battery fight. The cost of such a drone is much lower than a gun.
There are brushless motors of our own production (manufacturers addressed us at the enterprise and offered their services). A drone with a cable does not need batteries, but by the way, lithium batteries are produced here in Novosibirsk, despite the fact that effective managers have been trying to bankrupt the Liotech plant for several years.
Video cameras are needed, of course, with cool optics and with the ability to rotate the lens, at least in the zenith angle (rotation in azimuth can be provided by the drone itself). The issue, I think, is solvable. In electronics (I am an electronics engineer) I don’t see any problems at all: how to send two bytes.
In general - a very sound idea, with a low cost and a very useful thing. It is also possible to make antennas and retroslators for communication according to this principle.

[ALARI]

Do the Syrians have long-range high-precision art systems?

[Alex Mann]

Syria and the Outskirts are very different comparisons! It is unlikely that the ISIS had arts and Hymers, etc.

[Andrey Gladkikh]

Drone Hymers? Well, well ... Or interrupt the cable with Hymers? Or an artillery cable to interrupt?

[low war]

Quote: Piramidon

In Syria, at STATIONARY facilities, ours have long been using tethered observation balloons

In Syria, they used the Tu-214R - an integrated optical-electronic reconnaissance aircraft (ORTR). Up to 400 km to the depth of the front, it determined almost all the necessary targets. "The need for inventions is cunning." If there are no satellites and ORTR complexes. Another thing that is striking is that the section’s homemade products at the level of a young technician are presented as serious news (“they are being sold”) in the Moscow Region, and the number of “high school students” (obviously not at the level, even students of technical universities) defending this idea. Back in the Crimean War of the century before last, the Russian grenadier used a kite ... Or maybe we are preparing in advance (for the worst outcome) like - it's time to remember the sling and prepare slingers :)

[Johnson Smithson]

Simple arithmetic:
From a height of 10 m to the horizon - 12 km
From a height of 100 m to the horizon - 37 km
200 m - 53 km
need only more powerful optics

[Elephant]

For your information, the reel with 3-wire power and control cable of the old Malyutka was unwound max. at 3,1 km. This can allow the copter to hover high enough and see far

[Leader_Barmaleev]

Simple arithmetic:
From a height of 10 m to the horizon - 12 km
From a height of 100 m to the horizon - 37 km
200 m - 53 km
need only more powerful optics

You understand everything very correctly. I will now tell the story of testing such a device for completely different purposes, and draw your own conclusions. It was in 2019, for control (here is some information that I won’t talk about) it was necessary to visually monitor the condition of the equipment, which was permanently working in the expanses of the north of Siberia at a very large distance from populated areas. And one design bureau presented a development - an ordinary weather balloon, ten KILOMETERS of carbon fiber along which two very thin wires were attached (total weight 26 kilograms) and a quadcopter-type gadget, only there were eight motors. Battery, camera and transmitter - another three and a half kilograms. The signal was transmitted through a carbon fiber (how - it’s not a question for me - I honestly didn’t understand anything, but the picture was clear and there were many, many numbers) In short, this thing climbed the declared ten kilometers with a wind drift of one and a half or two kilometers. I understand that motors are needed precisely so that the wind does not blow too far. The system turned out to be incredibly inertial, moving slowly, but as it turned out - for observation within a radius of the required 450 (FOUR Hundred and Fifty!!!) kilometers, this did not matter. As it turned out later, THIS CRAZY COULD BE LIFTED BY 31 KILOMETERS, it was simply not required according to the TOR. So everything works fine and such observation posts can be placed many kilometers from the front line.

[kalibr]

Artem! It can hang anywhere, and the operator is also not at all obliged to sit under it. It's so easy to get ahead of this...

[Alexander Lotsmanov]

Normally, for a platoon, that's it. Not only correction but also intelligence. And with a good camera, you can observe the situation for 10 km. I wonder what kind of wire is there, the currents are not small, on an ordinary UAV from the battery to the motors, the cross section is good.

[AndreyS]

Well, probably from the past...

[Vadim Voroshilov]

in fact, against the background of the events in Ukraine, the United States is doing its best to deal with the topic of balloons and their tethered analogues of balloons and kites - they will host both radar antennas and repeaters for communication ....

[hhurik]

The Finns in the winter war called the observer balloons "silver sausage". Only one was shot down.

[Piramidon]

Quote: hhurik

The Finns in the winter war called the observer balloons "silver sausage". Only one was shot down.

It should also be taken into account that at that time there were no small-sized means of video and radar surveillance, balloons were designed to lift the observer, and the dimensions were appropriate. Now the dimensions can be reduced tenfold. It will be both easier to manufacture and cheaper than quadrocopters IMHO.

[Sith]

It's high time!
Kirov Reporting ... (c)Red Alert 2

[Maz]

Less than three hundred and ten days have passed since the beginning of the SVO and the dream came true, maybe the tanks will start to be installed soon - the ideal place is a tank and electricity and a reel with a cable and an ideal view for tankers from a height of even a hundred meters.

[ABC-schutze]

"The new UAVs are connected to the power plant on the ground by means of a cable, thanks to which the device is connected to the command post."
************************************************** ****************************************
Yes, but the "communication channel" in the form of a "cable" or even just a cable seems to be very vulnerable. Moreover, it is clear that not only in the context of "protection against interference" ...

It is clear if this is a "tethered" UAV (aerostat), raised high above its positions, covered by small and short-range air defense systems, thereby providing a good visual and "radio engineering" overview ...

But here is a "tethered" UAV "sent on a cable" to enemy positions, this is somewhat "annoying" ...

[Woodman]

New UAVs are connected to the power plant on the ground via a cable, through which the device is connected to the command post.

Tethered unmanned stations are connected to an alternating current source, which the station converts to direct current. Being connected to the mains or to the generator through the power station, the drone has a practically unlimited power supply and flight time. Also, one of the advantages of tethered drones compared to their conventional counterparts is the security of data transmission from the drone. Conventional drones transmit data wirelessly, thereby exposing the network to hackers. In turn, tethered drones transmit all data over a fiber optic cable, which makes data transmission from tethered drones tamper-proof. Tethered drones are very easy to use; to perform a particular mission, the pilot only needs to familiarize himself with the equipment.

[Vladimir80]

tethered type, balloons???
you can immediately see - not some Kulibin came up with homemade, but a whole technopolis tried !!!!

[Woodman]

Quote: Vladimir80

you can immediately see - not some Kulibin came up with homemade, but a whole technopolis tried !!!

Quote: ALARI

Is this a la air balloon of the past?

The HoverMast-100 tethered copter developed by Sky Sapiens was adopted by the Israel Defense Forces in 2012. Since then, the range of such devices in the manufacturer's price list has grown significantly and is now represented by the HoverMast -50/100/150 models for land and sea applications.

The American company Aero Vironment Incorporated, the world leader in the field of unmanned aerial systems (UAS), has developed a robotic observation system based on the Teze Eye tethered quadcopter. It is designed for military use. The device, connected to the station by a cable, through which it receives energy and transmits information, has small dimensions. To operate the device, a special NSU is used. At the same time, its flight altitude does not exceed 45 m. The UAV can be in flight for up to 120 hours.

The automated, powerful and portable Orion tethered hexacopter system was developed by the French company Elisteer for military and civilian use as temporary telecommunications and teleinspection systems, as well as for continuous round-the-clock air surveillance.

People's Republic of China. Tethered hexacopter "Matris 600" with a ground power station provides a long hovering flight. The flight controller is equipped with an inertial navigation system with correction according to the CRNS data.

[The popuas]

I remember as a child there was a plastic tank with a control panel on a t 62 wire, if I'm not mistaken ... in a thing was! The range of this "tethered" drone is interesting

[novel66]

And a searchlight installation called KN - 72

[ALARI]

It will not even be necessary to shoot them down, the cable will not be long, of course, just a blow to the place where this masterpiece hangs and the operator is kirdyk.

[Vladimir80]

you offend the unparalleled developments of the technopolis, the balls will be transparent, the enemy will not notice !!!

[Piramidon]

Quote: ALARI

just a blow to the place where this masterpiece hangs and the operator kirdyk.

You, apparently, think that the operator should sit astride the drone or hold on to the cable with his hands. Do we have a cable in short supply to remove the operator from under the location of the drone for several hundred meters? The maximum that they can destroy is the "anchor" that holds the drone.

[Apprentice_SAM]

You, apparently, think that the operator should sit astride the drone or hold on to the cable with his hands.

Hello Stepan.
People live in the same plane, there is no spatial imagination or it is lame)
"Massaraksh!" (with)

[Stas157]

Quote: Piramidon

Are we in short supply of cable to remove the operator from under the location of the drone for several hundred meters?

In any case, it is better to be the operator of a normal drone, and not a tethered one. Even if the operator is away from the tethered one, you will not leave. They will find you along this wire. And, as I understand it, tethered drones should work as close as possible to the enemy.

[Piramidon]

Quote: Stas157

Even if the operator is away from the tethered one, you will not leave. They will find you along this wire.

Yeah, the operator is sitting alone in an open field, far from his troops, absolutely without protection. If you think like that, then in general everyone should stay at home, in the rear away from the front lines.

[Stas157]

Quote: Piramidon

absolutely unprotected

Do you propose to attach combat guards to each operator? What is the number of crew then each attached drone will have?

[Alexander X]

As I understand it, the drone took off and hangs 100 meters above the ground. And the power and information on the wires? Well, for observation and increasing the range of reception and transmission, as a repeater, it’s quite an option ... IMHO ... Only in the photo at the beginning of the article is an airplane. Let him fly with a wire?

[faiver]

cord model aircraft seen how they launch?

[Apprentice_SAM]

Quote: faiver

cord model aircraft seen how they launch?

The vestibular apparatus of the operator of such a drone must be stronger than that of an astronaut)
"Green as grass, the operator sits" (almost cit.)

[Apprentice_SAM]

Only in the photo at the beginning of the article is an airplane. Let him fly with a wire? wink

faiver (Andrew)
cord model aircraft seen how they launch? bully

The designer, drunk, came up with a drone.
The drone was unique - it was cordovan.
Available only in Russia
And not beyond the cordon:
The constructor was "blue",
And the operator is green.

[Andy_nsk]

Only in the photo at the beginning of the article is an airplane.

I think that the respected editors got excited by posting a photo of the airplane, it is much more convenient to use a quadrocopter to work with the power and communication cable.

[Alexga]

The situation with UAVs is surprising now. Indeed, back in Soviet times, each army had a squadron of unmanned reconnaissance aircraft.

[faiver]

in Soviet times, there were a lot of things ..., eh ....

[Alexandr2637]

tethered drones

What kind of animal is this? How many meters does it fly?

[Woodman]

Quote: Alexandr2637

What kind of beast is this?

As it turns out, a fairly common animal ...

[Kuziming]

It's steampunk, of course. But something is better than nothing.

[fiv]

No, steampunk is a password, and a steam pipeline to it from the ground. and a handle on a string to give a horn. And below is a locomotive with a stoker and a tender. Railway option

[Introvert]

New UAVs are connected to the power plant on the ground via a cable, through which the device is connected to the command post.

Masterpiece idea. I hope the developers of this technology will go to test it personally in Ukraine and share their impressions of using it.

Just let them get acquainted: https://topwar.ru/207639-pri-vozvraschenii-na-pozicii-bpla-zachastuju-vydajut-mestopolozhenie-operatorov-i-celyh-podrazdelenij.html

So that later there would be no stupid questions, why did this gift come to us at the CP)))

[Bad_gr]

Quote: Introvert

Just let them get acquainted: https://topwar.ru/207639-pri-vozvraschenii-na-pozicii-bpla-zachastuju-vydajut-mestopolozhenie-operatorov-i-celyh-podrazdelenij.html

It is written there

When returning to UAV positions, they often give out the location of operators and entire units

That is, they saw the drone above their heads and tracked where it flew.
The tethered drone will hang in the air in the rear of our troops, or in the neutral zone. Try to find a point in the sky a few kilometers away, the size of a sneaker box (the rotating propellers are not visible, only the body) without knowing exactly where it can be launched, at what height and at what time.

[Introvert]

Quote: Bad_gr

That is, they saw the drone above their heads and tracked where it flew.

So it's even easier. You don't have to follow.

Quote: Bad_gr

Try to find a point in the sky a few kilometers away, the size of a sneaker box (the rotating propellers are not visible, only the body) without knowing exactly where it can be launched, at what height and at what time.

I think, using the example of a video with a drone, the operators also did not know the place of its launch and the coordinates of the drone itself before the contact, but they were lucky to spot it. The question is that the "war of drones" has already begun. And there were more than one or two such interceptions. Such tethered drones are undeniably good where there are no countermeasures, but in Ukraine they are. As will be in all other conflicts. And the niche of such drones is the deep rear.

[Askold65]

Quote: Introvert

So that later there would be no stupid questions, why did this gift come to us at the CP)))

For the direction finding of their "mavics" and "pilots", the Chinese have developed "aeroscopes" operating at a distance of 15 km, calculating their coordinates from GPS data. But GPS can be disabled or the copter hardware can be flashed.
Tethered drones do not need a satellite. It's just a video camera raised to a certain height. Like those used on telescopic retractable reconnaissance armored vehicles. Only raised even higher and the ability to move to the sides by the length of the cable.

[Tagan]

Quote: ALARI

And of course it will hang above the operator? great plan, well, just class. Whose artillery fire will he correct?

Just because you think so doesn't mean it's true.

[faiver]

Do you think it will get worse? I quite admit...

[O. Bender]

The balloon, the airship are large, which unmasks with the ensuing consequences. The drone, having orders of magnitude smaller, is more invisible. Not so long ago, there was an article on VO about equipping tanks and self-propelled guns with such drones. So the idea is not new and has a place to be. Advantages and disadvantages easily understood.

[Guran33 Sergey]

An airship at an altitude of 5-7 km, fifty, a hundred kilometers from the front line and 90-150 km from enemy air defense .. due to the absence of a shortage of space for the lack of digital technologies (hello Chubais ) it is possible to install analog equipment for the first time. Shooting down an airship supported by military air defense is another problem. In the form of a drone, it can hang for days

[Guran33 Sergey]

And also in defense of the good old airship, slandered by the Americans .. Afar, due to the size and carrying capacity of the device, you can put several inside and outside the shell independently working on the basis of civilian technologies. The speed range is from practical zero to comfortable 50 km / h .. Flight duration from days to weeks depending on the weather (wind direction and speed in the range of operating altitudes) cheaper operation compared to an aircraft, the crew on the ground is safe, flight personnel training - three-month courses for veteran retired pilots. problem (we cover the stadiums safely for thousands of fans. The manufacture of the frame and shell is cheaper than the construction of a transport-passenger liner, the engines are already available and are being produced without other components. Yes, the first one and the infrastructure for it will cost more than an aircraft, but there is little serial construction (there are about 200-300 of them for good necessary to create a permanent continuous radar station Olya in the western direction, do not forget to cover the Finns in all seriousness soon and look through them for the Swedes.

[Andy_nsk]

it is possible to install analog equipment for the first time.

Do you understand anything about electronics? (except for the ability to tune the radio in the car to your favorite wave). They won’t deliver exactly analog, it’s much easier for modern engineers to do everything digitally. In general, "tethered" drones are quite a reasonable solution, they can hang in the sky for days and transmit video to command posts, and they do not need to hover directly above the command post, there can be hundreds of meters to the command post.

[shish]

The idea is good! Need to try! Here, on the contrary, the operator can be protected, he sits in the bunker 500 m from the generator and controls by wire at least all day long and drinks tea, in which case only part of the system is damaged, the motor with a video camera, the housing power station or wires.

[Ivan Fokin_2]

It was about this that I thought, not as much without brains to sit under a tied drone.

[hhurik]

Some strange devices are fabricated for the Airborne Forces. And where is the news about a flying disposable camera-rocket launcher for the needs of the Airborne Forces - there was a topic and disappeared? How is it even used?

[Consultant]

I don’t know about the camera as a projectile for the rocket launcher, but the firing camera on Velcro, as in the Splinter Cell game, as well as the camera turned around the corner on a machine gun on a rotating barrel with a grenade launcher, would certainly not interfere. And so far we have only seen mirrors on a stick.

https://splintercell.fandom.com/ru/wiki/%D0%9A%D0%B0%D0%BC%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%B0-%D0%BB%D0%B8%D0%BF%D1%83%D1%87%D0%BA%D0%B0

[ratoborets]

11th month of NWO. The country's military-industrial complex should produce hundreds of strike drones every month.
Disposable kamikaze drones like Shaheds / Geraniums or Lancets should be produced at least in the hundreds, and preferably thousands per month. These drones are expendable ammunition in modern warfare.

[Arcius Long]

Funny. Thousands a month, we basically produce nothing but shells.

[kalibr]

What good news. Back in 2007, in my book "Tanks Unique and Paradoxical", I wrote about the possibility and necessity of creating and using just such DRONS, and here it is ...

[Vladimir Postnikov]

Note that tethered drones have replaced old-style unmanned aerial vehicles that used fuel or batteries.

Can't be! This is something amazing! I even have a name for this masterpiece: "Arctic Fox".

All the people rejoice and rejoice
And faster, more will
The train rushes into a clean field.

[Horon]

New UAVs are connected to the power plant on the ground via a cable,

What have I just read? Instead of developing or purchasing high-capacity batteries or economical engines, now this device will hang in a limited space on a rope like a flagpole indicating where to hit the enemy? This is not a novelty, this is a huge step back and to the side.

[Vladimir Postnikov]

Quote: Horon

Instead...

I have a poetic line:

We get up from our knees, breaking through the bottom .. (C)

[Kostadinov]

And of course it will hang above the operator?

And why does the drone have to hover over the operator?
ATGM by wire hits targets several kilometers away from the operator.
And the operator himself may be far from the launch site.

[ALARI]

When Marconi or Popov came up with the radio, they wanted to get rid of the wires. What is the diameter of the wiring for the ATGM? Therefore, it can be several kilometers and works for several seconds. This wire will be thick, heavy and not long and should last at least weeks. Or increase the size and carrying capacity and, accordingly, visibility. And then it will be as I wrote above.

[Bad_gr]

Quote: ALARI

This wire will be thick, heavy and not long

The wire can be an ordinary vole (for field phones), supplemented with a thread of optics. Apply 300 volts through the wire, and lower it to the required 5-12 volts in the drone itself. All information on optics.

[Kostadinov]

Quote: Introvert

Just let them get acquainted: https://topwar.ru/207639-pri-vozvraschenii-na-pozicii-bpla-zachastuju-vydajut-mestopolozhenie-operatorov-i-celyh-podrazdelenij.html

So that later there would be no stupid questions, why did this gift come to us at the CP)))

A drone without a wire sees something when returning to a position.
A drone without a wire returns much more often than a drone with wires.
Wireless transmission of information is easier to jam and easier to find the CP.

[Last centurion]

It's high time instead of the A-50 to keep antennas on airships above the borders. And the equipment on the ground, on tractors like iskanders or poplars (by the way, tractors would have a second life). This will significantly increase the coverage of the air defense zone, reveal stealth and low-flying tomahawks and other stealth ships or sabotage submarines. It will allow you to suddenly launch such things or redeploy when threatened.
PS: the truth is "in space no one will hear your cry", it's useless to write ...

[km-21]

Tethered drone?
It will be an excellent beacon for unmasking the command post.
The dream of an enemy artilleryman.

[Arcius Long]

Here again. There are hundreds of Western satellites above our troops and command posts. What the hell unmasking, they are already viewed almost in real time.

[Consultant]

Why haven't NATO satellites been shot down yet? After all, the Americans admitted that in fact, in manual mode, through these satellites, they direct the Himars and GPS artillery shells at our positions and at civilian objects on the territory of Russia?

[Zik256x]

Quote: Horon

What have I just read? Instead of developing or purchasing high-capacity batteries or economical engines, now this device will hang in a limited space on a rope like a flagpole indicating where to hit the enemy? This is not a novelty, this is a huge step back and to the side.

And why did you decide that this is INSTEAD of geraniums and hahid "mopeds"? One does not cancel the other, each device has its own goals and objectives. So - "the boss is all gone", out of place in this case

[sunbro]

Despite its simplicity and other advantages, the method also has limitations: https://nplus1.ru/news/2022/03/22/tethered-drone

If the aircraft is powered by a 12 AWG cable and is hovering directly above the power source, then if the cable is longer than 9,43 meters, the aircraft will no longer be able to reach its maximum height and fully straighten it out.

And yes, the authors of the work used the trick with increasing the voltage, 60 V went through the cable, which turned into the 12V needed by the engines already on board.

[Kerensky]

Let's expand on the idea:
We take a ready-made weather balloon (s) and attach a ready-made drone to it and a spare battery that feeds its on-board network. At the right moment, the drone unhooks, and, on its own battery, heals up to the house.

[Nikolaevich I]

Ltd ! Veri good! Tethered quads used to be my favorite topic! I even somehow shoved a small article under the guise of a comment on VO!

[Visher]

And what? If the test passes and will be in demand, there is no difference.

[Private SA]

Quote: lucul

Well, what do you not understand?))))
The same Mavik can be in the air for several tens of minutes (the battery is running out), and with a cable (on a leash) it can already hang in the air 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and adjust artillery fire)))

And it is not clear to us how many kilometers, hanging on the cable, it is approaching
the armored column will be seen, at the same time, as a mobile UAV and for tens of kilometers
slide forward and see.

[agond]

It does not approach anywhere, a helicopter-type UAV hangs above the generator at a height, probably much less than a kilometer (the cable has weight and sails in the wind), but an unlimited source of energy does not require batteries and allows you to have a radar and see far.

[cpls22]

Good news. Its main advantage is that it does not radiate anything, which means it is impossible to locate, drown out, hack, steal, land. By itself, it is not large enough for aircraft tracking radars, it may not hang high enough for counter-battery radars, and without the need to lift heavy power supplies, it can carry more serious surveillance equipment. This is an ideal NP, although not for the front line, I guess.

[Aviator_]

New UAVs are connected to the power plant on the ground via a cable, through which the device is connected to the command post.

On a string, like a cord model? On the one hand, good noise immunity, on the other hand, a short range. But as an NP, cutting circles over the LBS, it will do.

[VVK]

Should be cheap and effective.

[storm]

You look and finally it comes to air defense / missile defense balloons ....
Where else should enemy drones fly in order for sound ideas to begin to be implemented.

[Vladimir Shabelnikov]

What if a chain of such tethered UAVs is motionlessly suspended on balloons (such as weather balloons and balloons) along the entire front line? Data from them (pictures) should not be transmitted to individual UAV operators, but to communication satellites such as Gazprom’s YAMALS, then not to the Earth to anyone who can (has the right) to use this data. Satellites of the Yamal series are already operating in space. They will only need to be moved in geostationary orbit to the west so that they hang over the front.
This will help create a Russian military satellite constellation similar to the American one, which includes Elon Musk's Starlinks and other reconnaissance satellites. Now one of the problems for us is the lack of means of observation from orbit with a high resolution.
The proposed approach, I hope, will help with the help of the attached UAVs to get around this problem!