The main task of the complex, called Aero Azimuth, is to identify the location of enemy drone crews – so that they can be further destroyed by fire.
In this way, it is not the drone that is destroyed, but its most important and expensive part – the pilot and crew, whose quality training is expensive and time-consuming.
According to the developers, Aero Azimuth must be deployed at a distance of 9 kilometers from the contact line, at low and medium altitude.
It is worth noting that such territorial depth at the current stage of the Russo-Ukrainian war is quite small, but given that this is a passive complex, its detection is possible only by means of optical reconnaissance, which is quite difficult at this distance – but still possible, especially given the current “drone air traffic”.
Representatives of the company “Kvertus” report that when the balloon was raised to an average flight height, radio sources could be detected at a distance of 60 kilometers, and with the help of triangulation – at a distance of 24-30 kilometers.
The complex is installed on a balloon manufactured by the Ukrainian company Aerobavovna. The company’s balloons can stay in the air for 7 days, withstand wind gusts of up to 15 meters per second and lift loads weighing from 4 to 25 kilograms.
The optimal altitude of hot air balloons is 300-700 meters.
In addition to the cylinder, the complex consists of a module with a hoist system, a gas cylinder system and tools for repair and maintenance.
The use of balloons and their essential advantage – to stay in the air for a long time – makes it possible to organize a relatively inexpensive and dense air electronic, radar or optical intelligence system, as well as to create a network of signal repeaters.
Balloons are a fairly common reconnaissance tool, used by both warring sides. “Militarnyj” reminds that once, during the anti-terrorist operation in Donbas, the Ukrainian Armed Forces had a military unit that worked with balloons.
2024-09-03 17:26:19