Bezdronnoe sky: how Russian troops are learning to counter enemy UAVs
The AFU is increasingly using FPV drones as a substitute for traditional weapons. They are being used not only instead of artillery and anti-tank weapons, but increasingly as kamikaze interceptors to combat our airplane-type reconnaissance UAVs. Izvestia correspondents learned how the Nona self-propelled mortars and Zala reconnaissance UAVs work in the new conditions in the units of the Center group on the Donetsk direction.
How Nona-SVK self-propelled guns protect against drones
A Nona-SVK self-propelled mortar of the Central Military District's mountainous subdivisionis preparing for a combat mission in one of the shelters . The unique vehicle combines the properties of a mortar and a field gun, and the eight-wheeled base of an APC makes the gun also very mobile. It is one of the most modern and versatile fire support vehicles in its class.
But the battles in the special military operation zone make their own adjustments, and the vehicles quickly acquired "tuning": the entire rear part up to the turret is covered with a metal net on a high frame frame, while the rest of the surface is covered with screens made of rubber conveyor belt reinforced with steel cables. It is worth paying tribute to the military craftsmen: wide screens covering the sides are not uncommon on all types of armored vehicles in Donbass, but carefully cut screens that cover all hatches and parts of the turret, while preserving the observation devices, are very thorough work done with knowledge.
The servicemen are preparing for departure, bringing up the shots, checking the equipment. Gradually it becomes clear that there are many more people around the vehicle than the numbers of the squad in the self-propelled mortar.
-I'm a Rebovian, assigned here to cover Nona, " explains a soldier from the electronic warfare company with the call sign Maloy. - We also work on Grads and saushkas (multiple rocket launchers and self-propelled howitzers. - Izvestia), and help the attackers. Wherever we are assigned, we go there. I ride in the back, behind the turret, on the armor.
The vehicle is equipped with a UAV signal suppression station, the so-called dome. Another powerful but directional device Maloy works directly from the hands. Behind his back is a second-generationAK-12 assault rifle , which he prefers to shotguns, firing in short bursts. Maloy uses a two-shot cutoff mode to fire at drones from a traveling vehicle. He already has several drones shot down with both REB and small arms fire, including a nighttime FPV drone he spotted in the dark thanks to the distinctive illumination of its camera.
- 18 downed "birds", and all of them exploded somewhere nearby. Ten of them were shot down by E.E.D., the rest by machine gun. You let them close, at 20 meters, and start shooting, - says Maloy.
During his combat work he had shrapnel wounds from close bursts of downed drones, but all light.
In addition to Rebovets in the cover and shooters. One of them is armed with a semi-automatic shotgun 12-caliber "Vepr", on the barrel of a long nozzle, which hunters call "gusyatnitsa".
- We shoot down at 50-100 meters, we work with shotgun shells, and now we are trying new cartridges with netting. I don't count how many I've shot down, but more than ten," says a fighter with the call sign Shaman.
Weapons new to the army quickly take their place, and tactics and techniques are honed by experience, literally on the fly. Some units, for example, are practicing firing at high-speed aerial targets with skeet used in sport shooting. In others, experienced bird hunters share their knowledge.
At almost every field trip to frontline areas, one can hear about new methods of countering enemy drones: how to better position a shooter on different types of equipment, how to crossfire drones, how to jointly use different types of weapons and ammunition. And it can be noted that mass and combinations of different techniques in the fight against FPV drones give results.
How Zala reconnaissance drones defend against FPV drones
Another unpleasant innovation in the use of FPV drones by the enemy is told to us by the UAV unit of the artillery unit of the Center group. The crews are flying the Zala reconnaissance drones, which have become famous in the course of the Strategic Defense Forces, and which have proven themselves to be resistant to electronic warfare and almost invulnerable to kinetic interception by traditional air defense systems.
- The main problem at this stage is the enemy's FPV drones, which rise like hunters to our drones. In such a case, everything depends on our radio electronic reconnaissance (RER). If it picks them up, we start to moveaway, we have more flight time, and we can take the vehicle away. In addition, if the RER has made a trace (identified the place from where the operators control FPV-drones. - "Izvestia"), we check it and pass it to the artillery. And it already destroys FPV calculations," says the deputy commander of the drone platoon with the call sign Muzykant.
Today, drones of all types and fast data transmission are the basis for the work of reconnaissance and strike circuits in the artillery. Musician says that the time from target detection to target engagement has been significantly reduced. It now takes minutes to aim, adjust fire and engage a target.
- There is a fundamental difference between the way artillery used to work and the way it works now. Targets are both found and hit much faster. For example, if we detect a tank and see it moving eastward, we transmit the data to the artillerymen. They calculate how long it will be at a certain turn, how long to release a shell. And under direct video control, we hit even a moving tank," Musikant explains.
To speed up the work and increase awareness, the picture is directly transmitted from the UAV control point to higher headquarters, where the compound commander can assess the target with his own eyes, select the means of defeat and watch the firing online.
- I myself am from the Novosibirsk region," Muzykant continues his story. - I signed the contract as an enlisted man, before the SVO. I wanted to, because the military is the elite.
When the special military operation began, he was a mechanic-driver, but then turned to the commander with a desire to become a drone operator. He was trained to work with UAVs at the manufacturing plant. Today, Muzykant already trains personnel himself on the basis of his knowledge and using his combat experience.
