State defense corporation Rostec told russian media that its Chelyabinsk Radio Plant Polyot, part of Rostec's AIS holding, has created a "comprehensive zonal radar system for protection against drone attacks" with the option of scaling such a system to the city level.
The basic unit of this protection system is the Sfera (Sphere) system, coming in several varieties. It is claimed that the russian invasion army in Ukraine has already tested this equipment on the battlefield: installed on an unnamed vehicle, the Sfera neutralized more than 10 drones in one combat operation, the developers say.
Read more: Doomed: russian Forces Determined to Cross Dnipro River in Kherson Region
Illustrative footage: an aerial attack of Ukrainian long-range drones on oil depots across russia: in Orel and in the Rostov Region:
Earlier this year, one of the modifications, the Sfera-MB, passed state tests and was approved as a system that can effectively counter a range of unmanned aerial vehicles.
The russians emphasize that Sfera can be optimized to either protect individual objects or scale to a city-wide dome. The system's modular design also allows it to be tailored for other tasks by changing its configuration.
In essence, this is an anti-drone electronic warfare system, and the special emphasis on the protection of cities hints that russians sought to replicate a solution Ukrainian forces have been using for a while. Back in 2023, then-Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces Valeryi Zaluzhnyi disclosed just a few droplets of information about Pokrova — a nationwide electronic warfare network.
After some trial and error, Ukraine is now reaping the results of this investment, with dozens of russian drones being "location lost"-ed, i.e. neutralized by EW systems, as reflected in daily reports by the Ukrainian Air Force. Among the threats effectively warded off this way are russian Shahed-136/131 killer drones and Gerbera decoys, etc.
The Sfera system might be russia's own attempt at creating such a network.
Earlier this year, Defense Express reported about a high-ranking russian defense industry official who noted that instead of looking for an "EW panacea," they needed to create mobile groups to search and destroy enemy drone operators in the context of measures against Ukrainian increasing use of explosive FPV drones.
The russian forces also had copied the Ukrainian idea of mobile fire groups of air defense: small and ready-to-go squads of military personnel equipped with portable weapons like MANPADS or gun trucks to hunt enemy long-range drones on call to a specific interception point.
Read more: russia Actively Creates Mobile Air Defense Fire Groups, Copying Ukraine's Experience
