Russian manufacturer NPO Strela has presented the Avtopritsel automated turret in Moscow, with analysts praising the anti-drone weapon as a long-overdue defense.
The specialized system is armed with Vepr-12 Molot smoothbore shotguns to provide a final line of protection for military vehicles and stationary installations against unmanned aerial attacks.
The complex can detect an incoming drone at a distance of 500 meters, according to details released at the International Collective Security Forum in the Russian capital.
Russian military analytical Telegram channel Military Chronicle reported that the automated module is considered capable of shooting down fiber-optic drones. The channel noted that these tethered aircraft cannot be disabled by standard electronic warfare systems, making a physical weapon necessary to destroy them.
Military Chronicle added that the design was particularly notable because forces could potentially deploy it directly in front of infantry dugouts or mount it on pickup trucks operating in vehicle convoys. The channel described the automated firing platform as an interesting and long-overdue solution for frontline units.
Threat of Fiber-Optic Drones
First-person view drones, commonly known as FPV drones, are small remote-controlled quadcopters piloted using a live video feed. Often fitted with explosive warheads, they have become a primary hazard for ground troops, logistics trucks, and armored formations.
Conventional quadcopters depend on wireless radio frequencies to transmit video and receive steering commands from their operators. Defense forces typically counter these threats using electronic warfare equipment, which blasts radio jamming signals across common frequencies to break the control link and force the drone to crash.
Fiber-optic drones bypass electronic defenses by trailing a micro-thin spool of glass optical fiber behind them as they fly. Because the control signals and video streams travel physically through light pulses inside the glass wire, radio jammers cannot detect or disrupt the connection, leaving kinetic interceptors as the only effective countermeasure.
Shotguns and Point Defense
The choice of Vepr-12 Molot smoothbore shotguns reflects a growing military reliance on rapid shotgun fire for close-range drone interception. Developed from the Kalashnikov RPK machine gun design, the 12-gauge weapon fires shells filled with heavy pellets, producing an expanding cloud of projectiles that raises the chance of striking small, fast-moving targets.
System developer NPO Strela is a major Russian defense design bureau based in Tula that specializes in battlefield surveillance radars, target acquisition equipment, and weapon control systems. The integration of automatic tracking sensors with rapid-fire shotguns aims to automate point defense where human reaction times are too slow to stop incoming dive attacks.
