Rostec, a russian state-owned defense conglomerate, has conducted the first tests of armored panels to protect critical infrastructure facilities (oil depots, gas storage facilities, ammunition depots, etc.) from attack by explosive unmanned aerial vehicles, russian state-affiliated media report.
The "newest and unique" armor plate was developed at the NII Stali research institute, which is part of the Kalashnikov Group. The panels are supposed to protect objects "from fragmentation and bullets," as noted, during the tests such a panel withstood the impact of 9×19 mm 7N21 cartridges and shards of an F-1 grenade detonated 0.5 meters away.
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Rostec claims that the armor panels are made of different materials, the weight of a square meter is "less than 30 kg." The manufacturer assures that these plates guarantee protection "from almost any gun" and can also repel splinters of RGD-5, RGN, RGO, and other hand grenades. Notably, the russian media accentuate that such armor was created to protect "especially important objects, including from FPV drone attacks."
Worth mentioning, later, Rostec announced that its engineers had developed a special neural network that allegedly allows for an immediate 40% increase in the detection range of drones using optical means, and it's intended for use at various critical infrastructure facilities, too.
"Computer vision and artificial intelligence technologies are capable of detecting an aircraft in advance, classifying it and — in case it detects a threat — notifying the operator to initiate UAV suppression measures. The neural network also makes it possible to switch the anti-drone system into a fully automatic operation mode," reads the description published in the media.
Earlier, Defense Express covered another way of countering drone attacks on critical military infrastructure devised in Rostec: reincarnating the First/Second World War-era barrage balloons.
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