MOSCOW, June 30. /TASS/. Russian specialists have engineered the Argus-Antifuria mobile electronic warfare station to suppress any unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), including long-range combat drones, Kaysant Research and Production Association Director for Development Alyona Balandina told TASS on Friday.
The jamming station was unveiled at the Special Gear exhibition running in Moscow on June 29-30.
"The Argus-Antifuria is a stationary unit that can suppress even very large aircraft-type drones. The system has been engineered with a view of employing it in the zone of the special military operation but there are plans to use it for protecting urban infrastructure," Balandina said.
The station is capable of effectively suppressing drones operational in the Ukrainian army, including Furia, Leleka and Valkyrie UAVs, she stressed.
The station can be mounted on a tripod up to three meters high, placed on a pickup truck or installed at stationary observation posts, the executive said.
"A prototype is on display at the exhibition. This modification is currently being finalized for its more effective use in the zone of combat operations. The tests of the Argus-Antifuria are scheduled for August this year and we are holding negotiations on conducting joint trials with the Defense Ministry of Russia, security and law-enforcement agencies. The mass production is expected to be launched from September," the Kaysant executive said.
It takes no more than five minutes to deploy the jamming station. The system can suppress drones at a range of 2 km, she specified.
"The system weighs just 18 kg. It can operate round-the-clock if connected to a 220 V power supply with a change of operators. The station is based on the principle of suppressing any frequency bands used by drones. The operator-drone communication is jammed and the drone loses control and the flight assignment is terminated," Balandina explained.
The impact of the Argus-Antifuria station depends on the drone modification, she said.
"Today there is a great number of various drones precisely from the standpoint of their firmware. When we catch a drone by a jammer beam and try to suppress it, it may attempt to escape and return home. In this case, the sole method is to destroy it: to capture it by a beam and the drone gets suspended and is knocked out," she said.