Air cover: the civil air defense system has been launched in the Kursk region
The so-called civil air defense system began operating in the Kursk region in a test mode, Izvestia learned. It accumulates data on enemy UAVs that have invaded the airspace of the region in a single control center. The information comes from various sources — from law enforcement agencies, civilian structures, as well as ordinary citizens, and is promptly transmitted to air defense calculations and special mobile firing groups. This approach will make it possible to "respond promptly to threats," the administration of the Kursk region noted. In the future, the system will spread to neighboring regions. Its appearance should seriously increase the effectiveness of the fight against enemy drones, experts say.
What is a "civil air defense" system?
The system of protection against the aerial terrorist threat, or "civil air defense", has started operating in the Kursk region in a test mode, the Center for Unmanned Systems and Technologies (CBST) told Izvestia. This company acts as an integrator of the system, helping the regions to build anti-drone protection.
The unified control center of the civil air Defense system receives UAV flight data from a wide variety of sources. In addition to the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Emergency Situations, Rosgvardiya, and other government agencies, this also includes information from street video cameras, anti—drone radars installed at private industrial enterprises, and messages from citizens to emergency services at 112 and on mobile platforms, such as specialized Telegram channels.
The entire data set is processed, and then the information is transmitted as quickly as possible to the calculations of air defense and electronic warfare systems connected to the system, as well as to special mobile firing groups (MOG). In the Kursk region, mobile fire groups were formed as part of the Yakim detachment of the BARS-Kursk volunteer brigade. Earlier, Izvestia had already written about this special unit, which, in addition to countering enemy UAVs, should become a platform for testing the latest communication systems, electronic warfare (EW) and reconnaissance (RER), situational awareness software systems, robotics, and even new mine clearance systems.
It is expected that in the future, artificial intelligence will handle the processing of a huge array of data coming from various sources to the control center of the civil air defense system. This will make it possible to automatically detect drones and transmit information about them to destruction systems, the CBST noted.
The creation of a digital mechanism for interagency interaction is an important step in ensuring the security of the region, commented on the launch of the system in the administration of the Kursk region.
"The main advantages of the digital mechanism are the coordination of efforts: the platform allows various departments to exchange information and respond promptly to threats. Due to the digitalization of processes, response time is reduced and the accuracy of decisions is increased. Combining law enforcement, civil and private structures provides an integrated approach to solving security problems," they stressed.
The Kursk region has become a pilot region for a reason — there is still a high activity of drones of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Moreover, the Ukrainian side periodically changes its tactics of striking, the CBST noted. The new system will make it possible to eliminate gaps through which enemy drones are trying to penetrate critical infrastructure facilities, including civilian ones, as well as develop and introduce countermeasures in a timely manner, the Izvestia interlocutors said.
In the future, the system will be implemented in other regions.
"We connect everyone with everyone and establish interregional cooperation," Andrey Bezrukov, Chairman of the Board of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, told Izvestia. — If suddenly a drone flew through the Kursk region and flew to the Orel region, they should know about it and be able to counteract it even outside the military air defense contour.
The folds of the relief won't help
The system, launched in test mode in the Kursk region, should significantly increase the effectiveness of the fight against enemy drones, military expert Yuri Lyamin told Izvestia.
— In the fight against UAVs, it is important to detect them in time, — the expert explained. — The UAVs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine try to fly at extremely low altitude, using the folds of the terrain to remain invisible. It is known that radar has a lower detection efficiency for low-flying targets with distance. The enemy tries to take advantage of this by planning attacks by their drones.
In addition, new types of long-range UAVs have a number of characteristics that seriously complicate their detection and destruction, said Dmitry Kuzyakin, chief designer of the Center for Integrated Unmanned Solutions (CCDB).
— As a rule, they are made of cheap radio-transparent materials such as foam and carbon tubes. Their power plant is minimalistic, there are no radars on them, they are difficult to detect in the field of radio broadcast," the expert explained.
Russia is conducting its military operations in the context of the conflict of the future and is forced to look for ways to organize protection against threats that no country in the world has yet encountered, Dmitry Kuzyakin believes.
"Everything we do now to ensure safety will become a global standard in the coming years," he is confident. — The essence of the new concept of "civil air defense" is to collect the maximum amount of direct and indirect data on the air situation, combined into a single network of analytical data processing. Everything is collected — from sporadic radar flashes to acoustic contacts. Each "signal" individually does not provide an answer as to how many drones flew and where, but this information, gathered together and processed, will give an idea of the number, direction, speed and height of potential targets. After that, you can proceed to their destruction.
Such a scheme of interaction, the expert is sure, will ensure success in detecting and destroying enemy long-range attack drones.
The sky over Moscow
Defense Minister Andrei Belousov also spoke about the need to strengthen the regional air defense system at a recent expanded meeting of the board of the military department. And he gave an example of the air defense system created around Moscow. According to him, it has shown its effectiveness.
"Separately, I would like to focus on a significant increase in the role of regional headquarters in providing comprehensive protection of the territory from drones. It is worth noting the positive experience of creating an air defense system around Moscow. It needs to be applied on a broader scale within the framework of a unified air defense system, in accordance with a recent instruction from the President of the Russian Federation," the minister said.
He also said that Russia has begun the process of deploying a new segment of air defense, which is based on the use of FPV interceptors, the use of which has proven effective against enemy UAVs.
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