Putin to send up barrage balloons to fend off drone attacks
Russia plans to build a network of barrage balloons inspired by the First and Second World Wars to thwart Ukraine’s daring drone attacks
A Russian aerospace firm says it has already begun testing balloons capable of holding up a net that, it is hoped, will offer protection against the long-range strikes that have badly damaged energy infrastructure and other key targets deep inside Russia.
The balloons are designed to launch from hangars, rise quickly in a row and then drop a 250m-tall net to form a defensive cordon.
Polina Albek, the general director of First Airship, told a conference in St Petersburg this week that the balloons had already been tested and that her company had received orders.
She said: “Our main activity is building cargo airships but today, based on the experience of our ancestors, we have created the ‘Barrier’ protection system.”
Photographs of a suspected prototype showed a white balloon with large blue fins at its rear floating above a birch forest and a lake.
First Airship has said that each balloon can float up to 300m above the ground and has a maximum load of 30kg, enough to carry the light net that hangs just above the ground.
The balloons can also be equipped with radar, electronic jammers and video cameras which give 360-degree views with a range of up to seven miles.
Ms Albek said: “These capabilities allow for substantial vertical coverage, creating an effective barrier against low-flying drones that threaten sensitive locations. The drones can’t see the mesh net, it’s too thin for them.”
Russian military bloggers have called for improved defences against Ukrainian drones which have hit Russian air bases, oil refineries and even an advanced radar system intended to give early warning of a nuclear missile launch.
As well as dropping a net, Ms Albek said that each balloon can be fitted with a “vacuum gun” that can shoot an “ultra light and ultra strong” net at drones.
Russia has already used air balloons in its war in Ukraine. Last year, the Ukrainian Air Force accused Russia of launching dozens of reflective hot air balloons over Kyiv to confuse anti-missile defence systems ahead of a missile and drone attack.
Barrage balloons were first utilised extensively on the Western Front in the First World War to defend against enemy spotter planes photographing trenches.
During the Second World War, barrage balloons hoisted steel cables aloft to create defences against German bombers and V-1 flying bombs.
Photographs from the Normandy landings in 1944, show dozens of the balloons floating above beaches to deter Nazi fighter plane attacks on Allied soldiers.
