The government has decided not to provide federal funds to equip civilian airports with systems to detect and counter drones, according to sources cited by Vedomosti.
This decision is reflected in the updated federal project titled “Development of Infrastructure, Ensuring Security, and the Formation of a Specialized Certification System for Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS)”.
Original Plan Canceled
The original plan was to equip 31 Russian airports with anti-drone systems by 2028, with a budget of over 11 billion rubles.
However, the decision to stop funding will affect all major airports in the Category I classification.
This includes airports in cities like Moscow, St. Petersburg (Pulkovo), Sochi, Yekaterinburg (Koltsovo), Novosibirsk (Tolmachevo), Krasnoyarsk (Yemelyanovo), Ufa, Kazan, Mineralnye Vody, Khabarovsk, Omsk, Chelyabinsk (Balandino), Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, Yakutsk, Tyumen, and Kaliningrad (Khrabrovo).
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Budget Changes
In December 2024, Deputy Prime Minister Vitaly Savelyev, who oversees the national UAS project, mentioned that the project might be restructured due to “various reasons.”
He also said that the expected funding cuts would not be very large.
Currently, only law enforcement and transport security officers are allowed to use electronic tools to counter drones.
Some airports have bought their own drone detection systems, but Oleg Panteleev, head of the Aviaport agency, said there are no clear rules about which threats airports should handle themselves and which should be dealt with by the Ministry of Defense or other state agencies.
According to Anton Blik, CEO of Flying Trucks, the only effective way to protect airports from drones is by using military-grade air defense systems like Pantsir or Tor.
“A proper airport defense system means detecting drones early, closing the airspace, shooting them down, and quickly reopening the airport,” Blik explained.
