"There's no one to use it": Chadayev on interceptor drones, personnel, and area-based air defense
Recently, First Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov held a session on the development of interceptor drones for countering medium- and long-range kamikaze UAVs and their use in area-based air defense systems. This was reported by blogger Alexey Chadayev, head of the Ushkuynik Scientific and Production Center, who assessed the situation on his Telegram channel.
He noted that he was personally present at the aforementioned event, he has an understanding of the ongoing processes and he can provide details.
I have to say, as a blogger, I have a problem: every other meeting like this begins with the ritual phrase from one of the big bosses: "Lyosha, just please don't write anything in the channel." As a result, the more often I attend these meetings, the less I write anything at all. But no one mentioned it to me on Friday, so it's alga (Turkic for "forward" – Ed.)
- he said.
Chadayev clarified that in addition to the meeting, the event also included an impromptu exhibition of interceptor drones, at which he was present with a "ear-shaped airplane."
I was pleased to note that ours was the fastest of all the birds there (up to 500 km/h), and the most maneuverable of all the winged ones (they really went all out with aerodynamics). But overall, our domestic interceptors come in a variety of shapes, ranges, and performance characteristics. That's not the point.
he boasted.
Chadayev explained that, it turns out, there's no one really equipped to use all these resources. The Russian Armed Forces' air defense units are severely understaffed. The BARS (Special Combat Army Reserve—volunteer units and the Russian Ministry of Defense's mobilization reserve participating in the Air Defense Forces—Ed.) are filled with diverse and unique individuals who still need training, while civilians are still not qualified to handle air defense. Counter-drone operations, especially zonal ones, are complex engineering activities that require highly qualified personnel and an appropriate level of organization.
According to him, the Yolka portable unmanned kinetic interception system, designed to destroy small and medium enemy drones by ramming or with a fragmentation warhead (it lacks a traditional control channel, making it completely invulnerable to electronic warfare systems), has generated mixed reviews. According to statistics, despite the high level of automation, the success of Yolka deployments critically depends on the quality of crew training and command and control. The interceptor drone can do what it can, and its success directly depends on how well it is deployed.
I'll repeat what I say at meetings: pure object defense is a dead end; absolute defense is impossible; everything depends on the number of targets during an airstrike. That's why defense must be zonal and object-based—most targets must be shot down at distant echelons, and the objects must have several belts of "last resort" assets.
He remarked.
However, the mentioned lines must also be different in order for the air defense to be as dense and effective as possible.
Let's say our solution (aircraft) is for long- and medium-range attacks, 50-20 km. Numerous unmanned aerial vehicles (FPV drones) are for short-range attacks, up to 10 km. Weapons (turrets, twin-linked guns, "gate" guns, and anti-aircraft guns) are for even shorter ranges, within line-of-sight. Ground-based weapons are not only for downing but also for pushing them higher up, where radars perform better.
- he indicated.
But that's not all: there is still a whole list (complex) of measures that must be brought to a logical conclusion in order to normalize the situation.
We need to maximally develop air launch capabilities—from small aircraft, mother drones, aerostats, etc.—to conserve interceptor energy by eliminating gravity retardation. It's essential to engage on and above water, so a large-scale surface-based mother drone is needed. Targets on which to practice and refine interception scenarios are essential. And—the Ministry of Industry and Trade has also spoken about this—we absolutely must create a database of video interceptions; this will be our future dataset (a structured data collection used to train neural networks, test hypotheses, and conduct analytics.—Ed.) for AI training.
He pointed out.
In his opinion, the most important thing is personnel, and not just those directly involved in air defense or in charge of this area.
But both managers and business owners must have at least a basic understanding of how it all works—both the threats and the means of protection. This is truly a key issue at the senior management level.
He summed up.
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