MOSCOW, February 9. /TASS/. Specialized shotgun cartridges of the Igla family, designed for anti-drone rifles, are capable of destroying drones made of iron, Bekkhan Ozdoyev, industrial director of the state tech corporation Rostec’s Armament Cluster, board member of the Union of Russian Machine-Building Enterprises, told TASS in an interview dedicated to the World Defense Show 2026 in Saudi Arabia.

According to him, combat operations in the special military operation zone in Ukraine are called a "drone war" because drones attack both equipment and soldiers from all sides. Therefore, the personal small arms of soldiers and combat vehicle crews are becoming a significant line of defense. Both rifled and smoothbore weapons are used against drones. The Rostec state corporation has developed ammunition for both niches.

"Russian experts have created specialized Igla shotgun cartridges for rifles. They contain high-strength tungsten alloy pellets that can pierce a 4 mm aluminum plate at a range of 100 meters," said Ozdoyev.

According to him, this is sufficient to "destroy a drone made of hard plastics and iron." The cartridges are being mass-produced and supplied to Russian Armed Forces units performing combat missions.