A video circulating on social media shows the moment a Ukrainian-operated drone hits an advanced Russian anti-drone system.
The unmanned aerial vehicle drops a bomb on an RLK-MC-A (ROSC-1) “Valdai” system, which is supposed to help Russian troops detect and destroy enemy drones.
The system is not attacked by a Bayraktar or Switchblade 600 military drone, but by a civilian model modified for military operations. The incident suggests either that Valdai cannot intercept small drones like those produced by DJI, or that it is malfunctioning.
The anti-drone system was developed by the Lianozovo Electromechanical factory. Work on the project began in 2016, and the system entered Russian military service in 2021.
The video was filmed from what likely was a small commercial drone rigged for dropping attached munitions. Similar devices see widespread use in the conflict, employed on both sides by both regular Ukrainian and Russian armed forces and various volunteer, paramilitary and guerilla units.
The drone appears to be dropping three modified hand grenades – RKG-3 or a similar model – with additional fins attached. The grenades explode around one of the subsystems of the station.
The question of what exactly attacked still remains. According to the description under the original video, it was “Silok”, an electronic warfare system designed to locate and disable drones at the distance of up to 4 kilometers (2.5 miles).
Some components of the system visible in the video – particularly the electronic control and radio monitoring subsystem, a tripod-mounted cuboid component which seemed to be the main target – indeed resemble the “Silok”.
However, on the left side of the video another subsystem of the complex is visible: a subsystem of radio-electronic control. Its shape appears to be different to that of Silok, implying that the complex might be the ROSC-1, a different electronic warfare system. Its resemblance with the system in the video was noticed by Twitter account Ukraine Weapons Tracker.
Manufactured by Almaz-Antei, a major Russian arms corporation, the ROSC-1 was introduced in 2021 and is one of the latest Russian anti-drone systems.
According to the manufacturer, it was specifically designed to disable various kinds of small and medium UAVs, such as the commercially-available DJI Mavic and DJI Spark and military-grade RQ-11B Raven and RQ-7 Shadow.
Various documentation of the ROSC-1, available online, claims that it is capable to detect and disable small drones at the distance of up to 10 kilometers.
RLK-MC-A (ROSC-1)
The question remains whether the system in the new video is indeed the ROSC-1. The most identifiable part of the system – a control module, which can be mounted on a truck or in a shipping container – is not visible in the video.
It also calls into question if an operational or even complete system was attacked. While the two subsystems visible in the video indeed constitute a lucrative target and may have sustained substantial damage from the shrapnel thrown around by the grenades, the control module, a much larger and arguably more important target, remains absent.
Nevertheless, a Ukrainian attack on one of Russia’s top electronic warfare systems is a highly interesting development, and the fact that it was conducted by the exact type of weapon it was designed to counter gives it an additional importance.
Sources: Aerotime Hub; Ukraine Weapons Tracker