The Russian Federation is preparing its energy infrastructure for Ukrainian attacks

19 April, 2024 A long-range drone, probably a "Beaver", flight over Moscow.

30/05/2023. Photo from social media In Russia, energy companies are preparing to protect their own infrastructure against possible drone strikes.

The Agency publication reported on this with reference to the internal documentation of the companies. Russia's largest power company, Rosseti, has announced an auction to develop standards for protecting power substations and other equipment with a capacity of more than 35 kilowatts from drone attacks. The document, which is to be developed by May 1, 2025, describes the likely risks associated with interference with the operation of power grid facilities and damage to expensive electrical equipment "as a result of UAVs strikes."

Project for the protection of energy facilities

The future protection standard envisages the development of a system, in which the active component will be represented by means of detecting drones (radar, radio frequency, acoustic and optical) and further countering them.

The draft also mentions the use of "automatic patrolling systems using UAVs" without specifying the details of this concept. Passive protection involves the construction of protective structures made of concrete blocks and anti-fragmentation nets around the facilities to minimize damage in the event of a drone strike. The construction of engineering structures around Russia's critical infrastructure has been noticed before, but then it was mostly about oil and gas facilities.

In particular, in early March, after the attack on the oil depot of JSC Belgorodnefteprodukt in the Belgorod region, eyewitnesses published a photo of the damaged tank, which was surrounded by anti-drone nets.

Fire at the oil depot in the village of Dolgoye, March 5, 2024

The Russian government's intentions to create its own anti-drone units similar to the Ukrainian mobile AA teams also deserve special attention.

Such units are planned to be deployed in several Russian combined arms armies, in the Aerospace Forces and in the Aerospace Defence Forces.

A Russian Ural truck with a ZU-23-2 anti-aircraft gun

The mobile AA teams are to be armed with ZU-23-2 anti-aircraft guns on truck chassis, as well as pickup trucks with heavy machine guns.

The new units should also include electronic warfare equipment and smoke screen systems.