Russia uses barrage balloons to protect oil refineries from drones

Russia has deployed barrage balloons and elevated cables around oil refineries as a defence against Ukrainian drone attacks, according to a report by TechRadar’s Christian Cawley. The system uses radar information to detect an incoming drone’s altitude and motors to adjust the height of the balloons and cables.

Russia has previously used nets attached to balloons to create barriers, but drones can fly over them. The cable system is intended to address that weakness. Its effectiveness against the drones Ukraine might use remains unknown: the strategy has not been tested, and the demonstration shared on Telegram used a smaller unmanned aircraft. Cawley notes that drones could potentially be fitted with blades to cut through the cables.

Barrage balloons were used by Britain and Germany near the end of the First World War against early aircraft. Britain later used them again in the 1940s against V1 rockets. The article says balloons brought down around 200 V1s as they descended toward their targets, but were ineffective against high-altitude bombers.

Cawley questions whether the Russian deployment would work against drones and suggests the demonstration may serve a propaganda purpose. That assessment is not a report of a field test; the article says the approach has yet to be tested.