Russia Upgrades Pantsir Defense System Capability, Capable Of Dealing With Various Types Of Attack Drones

An illustration of the shooting of a Serbian Pantsir-S1. (Source: Serbian Armed Forces/Darimir Banda/Mc Odbrana)

JAKARTA - The Pantsir-S1M upgraded surface-to-air missile defense system, capable of engaging a wide variety of unmanned vehicles including drones, shoots them down before their targets strike.

"The upgrade has substantially increased the Pantsir's ability to counter all types of drones. In particular, the system is capable of effectively detecting and destroying all types of attack drones", explains Bekkhan Ozdoyev, director of the Armament Cluster Industry at state technology company Rostec, as quoted from TASS on December 2.

Meanwhile, Deputy CEO of High Precision Weapons Company (part of Rostec) Sergei Mikhailov said on the sidelines of the EDEX 2021 international arms exhibition, the upgraded Pantsir has the potential to become a tactical air defense base.

"Pantsyr-S1M can be used as the basis for building an effective modular air defense network capable of protecting any military unit from small and attack drones, precision weapons and, of course, military aviation – airplanes, and helicopters", he explained.

"The system fully complies with the current A2/AD [anti-access/denial of area] principles [air defense systems used to prevent the enemy from penetrating vital areas]", Mikhailov continued.

Illustration of Russian Pantsir-S1. (Wikimedia Commons/A.Savin)

The Pantsir-S1M has received a new hypersonic surface-to-air missile with an increased strike range to 30 kilometers, operational altitude to 18 kilometers, and the area of destruction tripled.

Along with the new missiles, this system can also fire Pantsir-S1 launcher missiles. The Pantsyr-S1M upgrade has also increased stealth, jamming resistance, and fire speed.

Upgraded Pantsir to lay the groundwork for Russia's multi-layer counter-drone system. The upgraded Pantsyr-S1M surface-to-air missile/cannon system will be the main element of Russia's multi-layered counter-drone system, Mikhailov said.

"Deterring drones is the main task of today's air defense weapons. Currently, Russian industry produces two types of counter-drone capabilities; soft-kill to suppress drones with electronic countermeasures and hard-kill to physically destroy UAVs", he explained.

Illustration of Russian Pantsir-S1. (Wikimedia Commons/Vitaly V. Kuzmin)

"The network integrating the two technologies was unveiled at the IDEX 2021 [international weapons] exhibition and the Pantsyr-S1M will be its main component, in particular, in a group of systems for physically eliminating drones", Mikhailov said.

He said the Pantsir-S1M is very cost-effective in combating modern drones. The ammunition used makes it possible to fully meet the cost/efficiency ratio in attacking the target.

That's not enough, the upgrade will also allow the Pantsir-S1M to shoot down combat drones before they even launch their munitions, says military expert Viktor Murakhovsky.

"Drones have a low radar cross-section and their detection range is often shorter than the operational range of their weaponry. The Pantsir's operational range has been extended and the drones are identified quite clearly in the combat area", Murakhovsky said.

However, some drones are so small and equipped with electric motors that they can't actually be detected by infrared or radar signatures, Murakhovsky said.

"The use of optoelectronic devices in new air defense systems should be based not only on thermal but also optical contrast, for example", he said.

However, he warned, the new air defense system should not be seen as a panacea, he stressed.

"The counter-drone move implies creating multi-layered air defenses integrated with electronic warfare systems. It should also be borne in mind, even a sizable drone is still a very cheap item compared to airplanes and, of course, the focus should be on cutting the cost of the surface-to-air missiles used for such low-cost aerial vehicles. This work has been carried out and resulted in the manufacture of inexpensive small size missiles for another Russian air defense system called Tor", he concluded.