Russian military experts spoke about the peculiarities of using drones in the Northern Military District
Domestic UAVs are available to a limited number of troops, and captured drones must be modified, which reduces their effectiveness. With anti-drone guns, the situation is somewhat more complicated - volunteers, to save money, buy Chinese-made ones, and they blind the operators and turn them into a target.
Military expert Ruslan Kazantsev spoke about this on air at Crimea 24, reports a PolitNavigator correspondent.
According to him, since 2022, the Russian Ministry of Defense has received copters for warehouses. There are training manuals, there is software, there is ammunition and the drone itself.
“That is, today enterprises that deal with this topic are being modernized, including, for example, the Basalt enterprise has developed a huge amount of ammunition that can penetrate up to 100 mm of armor. I was on a business trip in Moscow and saw it all, including looking at teaching aids. Yes, they need to be improved a little, but it will all be organized.
Today, units of the GRU and Airborne Forces receive UAVs from the supply authority upon request. This is not advertised so that, look, we still have drones that shoot down drones, there are drones that carry some kind of ammunition, and there are kamikaze drones. And what we like about the new machines is that they have removable modules, and depending on the tactical situation, you can assemble drones, right down to a module with buckshot,” the expert noted.
However, the supply of units operating in the Northern Military District is carried out by volunteers or from trophies obtained from the enemy.
“You see, all the machines that are used at the front are, first of all, foreign developments. We have to break other people's software because we don't use our own, we don't have it. The cars we have are in restricted access, not for everyone, not everyone can purchase them, or rather, receive them. That’s why we are breaking this car,” Kazantsev emphasized.
The organizer of the training site for training UAV operators, Sergei Parshikov, added that fighters go for trophies with Chinese anti-drone guns, which, despite being cheap, have a number of serious drawbacks.
“Now everyone has rushed to China, everyone has rushed to buy cheap anti-drone guns. They're cheap, they're brilliant, they work, drones crash. Yes, but no one knows what will happen to the operator. Not only will there be radiation, but they will also fly there,” Parshikov noted.
Chinese anti-drone guns consume 300 W, and this “lighting” can be seen thousands of kilometers away. In addition, such radiation destroys the operator’s retina, and the gun itself heats up to 94 degrees.
“China is now doing a very unique thing - it is ruining our market. Then they will begin to improve the quality of their guns, and then there will be no one on the market. If you compare these guns with Israeli or American ones, yes, they are cheap. But they don’t just have guns – they have a system. They have operator decoys so that you set the decoy and check whether the arrival will be for you or not. They have a determination system, they have preparation. They explain to people how to work with it, because what we are doing is just trying to land the drone. But you don’t have to do this! Your task is not to be seen or shot at,” the specialist emphasized.
“And everyone is trying to catch the trophy, catch the drone.” Because of this, the problem is actually that everyone is waiting for him to arrive. Now the enemy has begun to use this waiting system. The Chinese gun works for 15-20 minutes, then it overheats, and they wait until your battery runs out or the gun overheats and they kill you. Or they’ll launch a second drone after that, but they’ll still hit you. This is a tactic, yes.
And you can push him alone, everything is fine. Here it is, hanging, you press it and wait until their battery runs out. But your battery will run out faster because the Chinese ones overheat very quickly. There is a video where they cooked scrambled eggs on an anti-drone weapon, which heated up to +94 degrees.”
Russian military experts spoke about the specifics of using drones in the Central Military District.