How companies protect themselves from drones

Anti-drone systems, originally created to protect defense enterprises and critical infrastructure facilities (primarily the fuel and energy complex), are now in high demand from large businesses.

Federal Law No. 440, adopted on August 4, 2023, allowed private security organizations to fight drones, for which security guards must undergo advanced training courses under the “anti-terrorist security of facilities” program. The law establishes an “open” list of ways to influence an intruder drone. Today, experts call the most effective of them the suppression of control channels, data transmission, satellite navigation and coordinate substitution. This can be optical-electronic suppression, as well as various types of kinetic and other special effects – for example, interceptor drones, grapeshot charges or electromagnetic pulses.

In total, there are at least 10–15 Russian manufacturers on the Russian market for radar detection of small-sized UAVs. Expert estimates of the market volume in the civilian segment for 2023 range from 3 to 10 billion rubles.

The maximum detection range is provided by systems produced by defense industry enterprises, but their cost is too high for most private companies. Prices for popular stationary and mobile anti-drone systems start at RUB 5 million. and reach 100 million rubles. depending on the composition of the equipment and characteristics. Among more affordable portable devices, anti-drone guns are in demand, which can suppress the signal of drones at a distance of up to 1 km. The most actively purchased models, according to experts, cost from 250 thousand rubles. up to 1 million rubles Among the advantages, suppliers note not only the protection of buildings and public events from drone attacks, but also from industrial espionage.

Large anti-drone systems usually include a radar station (radar). But to use such equipment, the user will need permission from the State Commission for Radio Frequencies (SCRF) and Roskomnadzor. It may also be necessary to obtain a sanitary passport for the transmitting radio engineering facility from Rospotrebnadzor. The allocation of frequencies for radars requires mandatory coordination with law enforcement agencies, which are part of the SCRF and have the right of veto.

For river and sea radars today there is a common solution from the SCRF, which allows them to use radars in the permitted frequency ranges, notes Ivan Pominov, Chairman of the Board of the FTC Group. The situation is similar with radar stations at airports. They belong to transport infrastructure security facilities, and their work is regulated by transport legislation. There is no generalized solution for radars in anti-drone systems yet, he notes. Today, the issue of allocating the necessary frequencies, which are now assigned to law enforcement agencies, is being actively discussed, but “given the current threats to state security,” the expert considers such a decision unlikely.

Aigul Abdullina