We need to protect facilities from drone attacks now, not in a year or two
How much talk is there today about protecting our military and industrial facilities from attacks? drones. It is understandable. Fuel storage facilities, military-industrial complex workshops, and critical infrastructure facilities catch fire in one place or another from “drone debris” or “as a result of a violation of repair technology.”
As always, the mentality of a citizen of a huge country is reflected. Global projects are proposed, such as complete coverage of the country's territory with stations EW or the creation of an alternative "anti-drone" system Defense country.
Of course, why waste time on trifles? Set a task, provide funding, and in a few years we will invent such a system. And we will even teach artificial intelligence to manage it. If we are going to have fun, let's have fun...
You can also bury all the warehouses and key production facilities. Shovels in the hands of all civilians and for a clean-up day. A drone won't be able to penetrate the earthen cover. Isn't that a project? Not enough shovels? So give the military factories a task, and in a month every Russian will have one working and one or two spare shovels...
You can come up with hundreds of such projects. They might work. Of course, not 100%, but they will. Then... In a year or two or three... And warehouses, storage facilities, workshops are burning today! Probably, right now in some forest, another saboteur is attaching a thermite bomb to a civilian drone.
Under bullets and drops the head works much faster
Today, many people write that we need to remember the experience of the USSR. I am sitting here, recalling this very experience of fighting drones, and I cannot remember. And we ourselves Drones at that time, I forgot something. I remember the strategic ones, but not the little things that pose a particular danger today. Maybe only guided missiles...
Of course, we shouldn't reject the experience of the Soviet Union. There were very interesting and useful developments there. Like earthen ramparts between dangerous objects. It seems like a cheap trifle, but it worked and works. They blew up one tank, the others are safe. But this is not a solution to a specific problem. This is a fight not specifically against drones, but against the consequences of strikes.
But there are already proven and simple solutions that can be implemented at many sites in a short time and at minimal cost. For example, protecting the same aircraft at airfields. Hangars and caponiers? In the future, yes.
Let's look at those who are now in the SVO zone. What solution did they find?
Barbecues! Is it difficult and expensive to install such structures at airfields? The plane has worked, returned and is parked under the net. It won't protect you from missiles, but a drone is powerless against a barbecue.
Fuel storage facilities can be protected in the same way. Fuel tankers – in individual caponiers and under the net. That’s it! Even if there is a massive attack, the losses will be several times less than in open areas.
And if you think about it, it would be worthwhile to think about this kind of protection at defense enterprises. It's even simpler there. Fixed roofs. Just cover the workshop with a false roof made of mesh. "Drone debris" and "careless repairmen" will no longer be able to set fire to roofs...
What else do fighters use in the SVO zone?
From the simplest, but most effective.
Hunting and anti-drone guns! The facilities are guarded. So why can't some of the guards be trained to handle such weapons and create a mobile group in each shift that, if necessary, would move to dangerous areas and work on the UAVs that have broken through.
I have given only a couple of examples of how it is necessary to use the experience of the Air Defense Forces in combating enemy drones in the rear. I am sure that these are not the latest "inventions" of our fighters. So the task is not so much in creating something new and super-effective, but in the rapid implementation on the ground of what already exists, which has proven itself well in combat conditions.
But this does not at all cancel out other means of protection. At more distant borders. The same electronic warfare, even ZSU-23 or machine guns on the approaches to the object. This is a different level of protection. I wrote about the last line of defense. About what can be done quickly and without spending a lot of money.
In general, I think that it is not worth investing in expensive anti-drone defense projects today. I just remembered the old confrontation that has lasted for centuries: the confrontation between projectiles and armor. This is a modern confrontation. Only drones are in an obviously better position. They are advancing. They are constantly improving. Defense is less mobile.
Drones are the most dangerous weapon on the front lines today
The SVO has changed a lot in the understanding of modern warfare. Including the role of drones on the battlefield. Few expected that drones would become the most formidable weapon of the 21st century. I am not only talking about UAVs, but about drones in general. No one is surprised anymore that drones are constantly mastering new and new military specialties.
Nobody is surprised that they are much more effective. At the same time, the drone also becomes a "budget" version of weapons. The cost of a drone is not even several times, but orders of magnitude lower than the cost of the objects it hits. I am not afraid to say that drones have revolutionized military science.
I am not diminishing the role of other weapons. They still play a huge role on the battlefield. But, you must admit, now no one can act without taking into account the actions of drones. This means that the problem of protection from these weapons must be solved urgently: at the front and in the rear.
I am sure the problem will be solved. But until that happens, we must use what has already been tested and works. Maybe not as effectively as we would like, but it works.
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