Russia Announces Small, Soldier-Carried Counter Drone Swarm Radar

by Kris Osborn, President, Center for Military Modernization

Drone swarms can blanket an area with surveillance across a wide envelope with built in redundancy, something which makes them a high threat and very difficult to counter. Drone swarms can also test enemy air defenses or even network to one another in some instances to relay time-sensitive target data.  Can they be stopped? 

Russian news reports claim the country’s military has pioneered a new kind of “mobile” radar capable of tracking and defending against or “jamming” small drones and possibly even drone swarms.

The TASS News Agency reports that the multifunctional radar can detect small drones in “hovering” mode, meaning as they linger in a more static position to conduct surveillance missions, adding the new technology is particularly impactful in urban areas. It would make sense that such a technology, however mature it is, might prove particularly relevant in urban areas as it could enable dismounted units to “see” over buildings, around corners or into otherwise unreachable areas.

The article does not offer much detail on the technology, and says it was unveiled by Russian weapons maker Rostec at an Army-2023 International Military-Technical Forum. Developers of the radar explain that it is optimally suited for dismounted units, as it weighs only 25 kg and can be transported on foot by mobile soldiers.

“Completed tests demonstrated that the portable radar can be used in conditions of close city development, to protect water areas, by patrol teams, and is able to detect a miniature drone at a distance up to 500 m. Furthermore, the radar “sees” radio transparent targets also, for example, aerostats, which provides for extra protection of secured facilities,” CEO of the plant Andrey Komogortsev said, as quoted in the TASS article.

Although the Russian paper describes the technology as ground-breaking new technology, the ability for ground-mobile radar to track and “jam” drones has existed for many years with militaries around the world, including of course the US. The ability to detect extremely small drones, particularly if dispersed or in groups, is potentially of tactical significance. Extremely small drones, it would seem clear, might easily be missed or wrongly identified by certain ground based radars, one reason why the Russian technology is engineered to reportedly “see” radio transparent targets invisible to certain kinds of imaging.