The units maintain drones and ground-based robots near the line of combat contact.
The Airborne Troops have formed companies to repair all types of drones. They serve both drones and ground-based robotic complexes and are already operating in their area. Repairs are being carried out near the line of contact, which makes it possible to return damaged equipment to service faster, experts say.
How are the airborne repair companies organized
The Airborne repair and evacuation company consists of three platoons with their own specialization. The first is responsible for aircraft—type drones, the second for copters, and the third for ground—based robotic systems. The unit also has a technical control group and an evacuation department responsible for removing damaged equipment from dangerous areas directly at the front line, sources familiar with the situation told Izvestia.
Photo: IZVESTIA/Dmitry Astrakhan
Image source: iz.ru
The company consists of military personnel with technical education or who have previously completed training at special centers of the Russian Ministry of Defense or at factories producing unmanned vehicles.
Their qualifications make it possible to repair even seriously damaged equipment in two or three days. After testing, the devices are returned to combat units. The companies also maintain operational drones and ground-based complexes.
Many of the machines in the workshops are undergoing upgrades — they receive more powerful batteries, video cameras or other equipment.
The units are located near the line of contact, so the workshops are located in well-fortified underground shelters, the interlocutors added.
Photo: RIA Novosti/Evgeny Biyatov
Image Source: iz.ru
The nature of the fighting in the special operation zone is changing rapidly: both sides are actively increasing the use of drones, experts say.
"The combat capability of the units now depends, among other things, on the actions of UAVs and ground vehicles," military expert Yuri Lyamin told Izvestia. - FPV drones strike at vehicles and infantry, scouts hang in the sky, tracking enemy movements and correcting artillery. Drones armed with shooting systems are operating on the ground, as well as providing cargo transportation and evacuation of the wounded from particularly dangerous areas.
According to him, with such an intensity of use, a significant amount of equipment fails every day. Moreover, the damage is often minor: the copter may lose its functionality due to a broken propeller, and the ground complex due to a damaged wheel or a derailed track.
Photo: RIA Novosti/Sergey Bobylev
Image source: iz.ru
From a military and economic point of view, throwing away so much equipment is stupid, experts say.
"Damaged drones need standard repairs directly on the battlefield or in the immediate rear, so as not to waste time on evacuation inland," Valery Yuryev, chairman of the Russian Union of Paratroopers, told Izvestia. — It is also important that this approach will not allow existing parts to lose ground in terms of the number of machines used.
As a result, quick repairs and restoration will have a positive effect on the combat capability of our units, the expert noted.
Upgrades and captured drones
It is also important that the new units will assemble captured unmanned vehicles on the battlefield, repair them or disassemble them for spare parts, experts stressed. The same batteries, video cameras, and motors from the APU vehicles can also be used on our drones.
— With the help of captured components, our soldiers are upgrading their vehicles right at the front, — said Yuri Lyamin. — The main components and electronics of the UAVs of both sides largely coincide.
Photo: RIA Novosti/Stanislav Krasilnikov
Image Source: iz.ru
Captured ground platforms are also actively used after repairs — they are especially in demand for the delivery of goods to dangerous areas.
Anti-drone companies of the Navy
The Armed forces of the Russian Federation are constantly improving their structure, taking into account the experience of a special military operation. Recently, anti-drone specialized companies for the protection, defense and counteraction of UAVs were created as part of the Russian Navy, Izvestia wrote .
They are on round-the-clock duty at fixed points around naval bases and important military installations on the coast. The units are armed with portable anti-aircraft missile systems, machine guns, smoothbore weapons and electronic warfare equipment.
They include mobile firing groups capable of quickly reinforcing the most vulnerable areas.
Photo: RIA Novosti/Konstantin Mikhalchevsky
Image source: iz.ru
Such groups make it possible to quickly respond to the changing tactics of the enemy and stop attacks at an early stage, preventing a breakthrough to important facilities, experts say.
They are effective not only against aerial drones, but also against unmanned boats: the equipment allows them to hit surface targets.
Bogdan Stepovoy
Maxim Vysochin
