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the russian "viewpoint" website published an article titled "using soviet heritage to respond to ukraine's drone attacks" on september 23. the author was igor garnov. the full text is excerpted as follows:

air defense forces affiliated with the russian aerospace forces have to deal with ukrainian drone attacks on russian cities almost every day. the main targets of the ukrainian army are the russian capital and the entire moscow region. how is moscow's air defense system built?

responding to large-scale drone attacks

the russian ministry of defense stated that in the early morning of september 22 alone, "15 ukrainian drones attempting to carry out terrorist attacks in russia were destroyed by the on-duty air defense system." the largest recent drone attack by the ukrainian army occurred in the early morning of september 10, when a total of 144 ukrainian drones were destroyed or intercepted.

ukrainian drones pose a growing threat to russia

today, such attacks are often referred to as "massive" attacks. however, from the perspective of the air defense system around moscow, its scale is not too large. the air defense system does not have to deal with such an attack too hard. this is first related to the scale of the air defense forces around moscow.

protecting the capital’s air security is the first air defense and anti-missile army of the russian aerospace forces. this is the only air defense unit in the country dedicated to protecting the capital.

the first batch of soviet anti-aircraft missile systems were put on combat duty in the suburbs of moscow, namely the s-25 "golden eagle" missile system. from today's perspective, its size is unbelievable: 60 launchers, a large semi-underground bunker (b-200 central guidance radar), 10 launch bunkers and kilometers long are distributed in an area of ​​140 hectares. cable. this system is the equipment of an air defense regiment.

this air defense system can only cover a 60-degree sector. therefore, the deployment of the first air defense and anti-missile group army is presented in two rings: 24 regiments in the inner ring and 32 regiments in the outer ring. the army has a total of 3,360 launchers. in addition, there are 22 remote detection stations and some auxiliary troops.

all this together makes up the a-50 air defense system. in other words, moscow’s current modern air defense system was established over decades and has a long history. today, as ukrainian drones continue to attack the capital region, the importance of this system has only grown.

each of the four echelon systems performs its own duties

the air defense system around moscow is organized according to the echelon principle. strikes against enemy air targets begin from very distant areas. ukrainian drones flying to moscow will be intercepted in russian border areas such as kursk oblast, belgorod oblast and other places.

in addition, the echelon principle is also reflected in the division of areas of responsibility of different air defense systems: air defense missiles of different levels and performance are responsible for intercepting different targets.

the type of goal is very important. for example, the s-400 air defense missile system and the pantsir-s1 and pantsir-s2 artillery-gun-in-one air defense systems can successfully shoot down drones and haimas rockets, but in the overlapping killing area, they cannot destroy the unmanned aerial vehicle. the tasks of man-machine and rockets are mainly assigned to the smaller "armor" system. the ballistic targets will be assigned to the "big guy": the s-400 system. the reason is simple: the first type of target can be dealt with with cheaper missiles, while in the second case, the probability of the s-400 system hitting the target is much higher.

the first echelon of moscow’s air defense system is the a-135 strategic anti-missile system, which has the longest combat range and can deal with the most serious threats. specifically, its targets are enemy intercontinental ballistic missiles in near space. of course, it will not be used against ukrainian drones. the second echelon is the s-500 and s-400 air defense missile systems with a range of hundreds of kilometers, mainly used to intercept medium-range ballistic missiles. the third echelon consists of s-400, s-300, pantsir-s1, pantsir-s2 and electronic warfare systems. its main targets are enemy cruise missiles and aircraft.

finally, the fourth echelon consists of pantsir-s1, pantsir-s2 and electronic warfare systems. currently, the task of dealing with drones is mainly undertaken by the air defense system of this echelon.

the combat areas of different weapon systems will partially overlap. therefore, the commander of the air defense force can act according to the circumstances in actual combat and select the most appropriate air defense weapon system.

last year, moscow mayor sergei sobyanin revealed that the ministry of defense was renovating air defense positions with the assistance of the moscow city government, which were those positions that were sited, built and deployed during the soviet period. the renovated position includes both artificial earth platforms and fixed platforms with metal structures for erecting radars and parking air defense combat vehicles. the height of this earthen and metal platform is about 30 meters, and the maximum detection distance of the radar or air defense system deployed on it for low-altitude targets can be increased to 52 kilometers.

in the two and a half years since the special military operation began, the russian air and missile defense system and air defense forces have accumulated rich combat experience. air defense forces around moscow had never before dealt with such a wide variety and number of targets. this means that the combat skills of the russian air defense troops are now at the highest level in the history of this service. because of this, moscow’s air defense system can respond so effectively to attacks by ukrainian drones.