A company in Russia says it has designed a defensive anti-drone system inspired by the century-old technology of Zeppelin airships, according to the country’s state media.
The development called Barrier, which uses balloons armed with nets deployed over targets, was reportedly revealed at a conference in St Petersburg on Monday where technologies for countering drones were being discussed.
During the war in Ukraine launched by Russia, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have been used extensively by both sides. Moscow relied on Iranian-made drones, such as Shahed-136s, while Ukraine has used its long-range drones to strike oil processing facilities and military depots.
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The company First Airship has created a system in which a network of balloons can hover over a target that needs to be protected, state news agency RIA Novosti reported.
When UAVs are detected approaching the target, the balloons rise into the air and “catch” the drones with a net suspended from it which can hold a load weighing up to 70 pounds. After the net separates from the balloon, which can reach heights of 900 feet, a new net is installed.
Polina Albek, general director at First Airship, said developers had been inspired by what happened during the First World War when airships with chains suspended from them were used for defensive purposes, RIA reported.
During the First World War, the German military made extensive use of Zeppelins both as bombers and as aerial reconnaissance.
“Our main activity making cargo airships, but based on our predecessors’ experience, we have created a protection system called Barrier,” Albek said, according to RIA, adding that they were being produced “at specialized enterprises.”
Russian media widely reported the development described at the drone detection and countermeasure technology conference held in St Petersburg on Monday and Tuesday, without referring to which objects would be protected nor the war in Ukraine.
Newsweek has contacted the Russian defense ministry for comment.
It comes as Ukraine continues to demonstrate a growing long-range drone attack capability in recent months.
In April, Kyiv attacked a plant in Russia’s Alabuga special economic zone in Tatarstan, which produces Iranian drones used for attacks against Ukraine and is located more than 800 miles from the Ukrainian border.
Herman Smetanin, the head of state-owned company Ukrainian Defense Industry, also known as Ukroboronprom, said that Ukraine has started the serial production of strike drones with a range of over 1,000 kilometers.
He told ArmyInform in an interview published June 29 that to counter the “huge resources and super-powerful industry” of Russia meant Kyiv had to be innovative and take a more “flexible and inventive” approach to manufacturing weapons.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.