Deputy Director of the Vector Research Institute — on the development of modern drones and ways to counter them
Drones are causing more and more problems: they set fire to energy facilities, disable enterprises, cause congestion on railways and collapse at airports. What protection methods are available? And is one hundred percent protection real in principle? These and other questions are answered by the Deputy Director of the Vector Research Institute (part of Rosel of Rostec State Corporation). Natalia Kotlyar.
— Natalia Vladimirovna, it seems to me that drones have been getting smarter very quickly lately. And soon, with the advent of artificial intelligence, their capabilities will increase many times over.
— You are right, the current stage is characterized by an increase in the degree of autonomy of drone systems combined with increasingly advanced artificial intelligence. Drones are getting smarter before our eyes due to their integration with advanced technologies such as machine learning and deep neural networks. AI helps to recognize obstacles, carry out flights based on computer vision (without GPS navigation), neural networks perform the function of an unmanned "brain", making decisions in real time.
For example, military UAVs now recognize and hit targets in a matter of moments. They can carry missiles and work in a group, kamikaze drones have become a cheap alternative to cruise missiles, and swarm systems allow hundreds of UAVs to conduct a coordinated attack or reconnaissance. At the same time, stealth technologies are gaining momentum, with more and more modifications of low-visibility drones operating in the air, water and on the ground.
Civilian drones are also rapidly evolving. Today, few people will be surprised by unmanned couriers. Such technologies are widely used in agriculture: for example, thanks to multispectral cameras, operational analysis of the state of fields appears, on the basis of which a decision is automatically made on the need to spray fertilizers. Drones are also engaged in the inspection of critical infrastructure — roads, complex engineering structures, power lines, pipelines.
But you need to understand that drones are just a tool. It can be used both for the benefit of a person and for harm. It's like with a scalpel — if it's in the hands of a surgeon, it will bring a lot of benefits, but if it gets into the hands of a person with ill intentions, then expect trouble.
— How can you protect yourself from drones? Is this possible in principle, given the current level of UAV development?
— It is possible and necessary. Having a well-thought—out anti-UAV system at the facility is as natural a time requirement as having conventional checkpoints. This provision has already been fixed in Russia at the legislative level — the responsibility for protecting facilities from drone attacks is assigned personally to the management of enterprises.
Among the most popular anti-UAV systems are electronic warfare (EW), electronic warfare (RAP), lasers, interceptor drones (with nets or kinetic impact).
— But how effective are the same lasers against UAVs?
— Laser anti—drone systems are now a very "hype" topic, because entire generations have been raised on science fiction films about lasers - take at least the legendary "Star Wars". Therefore, many perceive them as a high-tech future. Nevertheless, the technology itself is far from new — its appearance was predicted by Albert Einstein in 1917, and the first devices appeared at the turn of the 1960s.
Laser technologies are very promising, but there are nuances in their use. For example, to shoot down a drone, a laser needs to be continuously fixed on a certain point for some time, and drones such as FPVS are very fast and maneuverable targets. Lasers are also sensitive to atmospheric interference. Therefore, one of the urgent tasks for developers is to create an effective goal—setting and goal-keeping system.
It is most effective to use laser technologies in combination with electronic warfare, mechanical means of protection (nets) and means of kinetic destruction of targets.
— What are the most effective means of protecting objects from drones today?
— First of all, these are means of layered protection, which are still in demand. For example, the SICKLE complexes are located at the most important facilities of critical infrastructure. The latest modification, the SERP-VS13D, operates at 13 frequencies, combining electronic warfare and a high—precision detector. It "kills" quadrocopters with a control function in a wide frequency range, FPV drones, swarming UAV groups - a technique that not all electronic warfare systems can handle. The SICKLE is operated both automatically and manually, activating only in case of real danger.
Or a mobile system against FPV drones - PRES. It is installed on ambulances, buses, trucks, SUVs and cars. The suppression range is up to 150 meters with a 360 degree radius. The equipment is connected directly to the car battery, the control unit is located in the cabin.
A good solution for detecting drones on optical fiber is a three—axis passive coherent locator (3D radar). Unlike radar, it does not emit anything, therefore it is invisible to radio intelligence. Plus, you don't need to get any permissions to use radio frequencies. At the same time, its energy consumption is negligible. The device analyzes radio and TV signals "walking" in the atmosphere, reflected from a potential target, determining its exact coordinates. This device "sees" light-engine aircraft at a range of several tens of kilometers. It is important that he works normally in the city among the many reinforced concrete buildings, the weather or atmospheric visibility does not matter to him.
— And what is the situation with anti-drone systems abroad?
— We closely monitor competitors not only in Russia, but also abroad. In my opinion, the trends in the development of global and Russian industries are common. The differences lie in the details: our competencies are more advanced in some areas, theirs in others. But, as recent events in the Middle East have shown, no one has a universal, 100 percent protective antidronic agent, despite the loud statements of a number of foreign manufacturers.
At the same time, the key areas in which the competition between domestic and foreign developers and manufacturers is developing are as follows. The focus is on complex systems consisting of a detector and a wide variety of suppression devices. Our SICKLE looks quite decent against the background of Western products and will give odds to many. There is also a powerful integration of AI into UAV control systems, the concept of multi-layered protection of objects from drone attacks is being introduced, and mobile solutions for field applications are rapidly evolving. A special task is to minimize the cost of products.
Of the novelties, American developments in the field of quantum radars are interesting — they "see" objects beyond the radio horizon, as well as neural network predictions of the flight paths of drones.
— What about countering a swarm of drones? If, say, a thousand drones are fired at an object, can it be saved?
— Protecting an enterprise from a swarm of thousands of drones is an extremely difficult but achievable task. It all depends on the security technologies used, the budget and the response time. First, we need a comprehensive layered protection system. Already at the initial stage, it is worth implementing at least basic measures, such as detectors, AI analysis of detected threats, and physical protection equipment. They need to be combined with "smart" electronic suppression, spoofing, kinetic counteraction and camouflage. Do not forget about the readiness of the facility's staff — trainings and exercises are definitely not placed here.
Without a well-thought-out comprehensive approach, the chances of stopping a massive attack are close to zero. But at the same time, you need to understand that even the best protection in the world does not provide a 100% guarantee. It's like with a doctor — no one, even the most outstanding doctor, can ever guarantee 100% effectiveness of therapy. But there will definitely be no chance of salvation if the protection is fragmented, there are no backup defense schemes for the object, or the object is completely "open".
— Experts are talking about our lag in protection from drones at sea — is this true?
— R&D in this area is underway, and very actively. For example, specialized marine electronic warfare systems, detectors for detecting inconspicuous targets above the sea surface, and kinetic countermeasures, including interceptor drones, are being developed. Therefore, the gap may decrease in the next few years. I also do not exclude the emergence of new effective developments that have no analogues in the world.
— How does disabling cellular communications and the Internet interfere with drones? And how effective is the deprivation of mobile communications in entire regions in combating them?
— There is no definite answer here. Disruptions to mobile communications and the Internet are effective against attacks using amateur cheap drones, as well as a number of commercial products. For example, some commercial copters (DJI) depend on the mobile Internet — through it they upload a map of the area, broadcast video to the cloud and are controlled via 4G. Without cellular communication, their functionality is significantly reduced, but they remain partially functional.
There are also FPV drones with cellular control, especially the "garage" versions. For them, disabling mobile communications is critical, even to the point of losing the drone. Many remote-controlled civilian drones use LTE for video streaming and telemetry, while maintaining the function of autonomous flight in case of communication disconnection.
If you need to protect yourself from military unmanned systems, modern autonomous or analog UAVs, then disabling the services of cellular operators is unlikely to have any noticeable resistance. The fact is that they simply have a different principle of operation — by satellite, in secure communication channels, or based on autonomous navigation systems, in particular, inertial ones.
Source: Rossiyskaya Gazeta
