Russian corporation tests armoured plating to protect energy infrastructure from drones

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia’s state-owned Rostec corporation said on Thursday it had successfully conducted trials of armoured plating designed to protect critical infrastructure from drone attacks, grenades and bullets.

Rostec said each plate weighed 30 kilogrammes and that such plates could potentially be fitted on oil and gas storage facilities, ammo depots and energy infrastructure.

It said the plates could offer protection against FPV (first-person-view) drones, small drones originally produced for personal civilian use, but which have been modified for battlefield use.

Ukraine has stepped up its attacks on oil refineries in Russia, the world’s second largest oil exporter, since the start of the year in an attempt to reduce Moscow’s energy revenues and the amount of money it has to spend on the military.

Russian companies have been working to devise ways of protecting infrastructure from such drone attacks and, in some cases, says they have deployed giant meshed metal nets to cover oil refineries.

A Russian energy ministry official told a parliament meeting in March there were also plans to defend oil and gas facilities with missile systems.

(Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin; Editing by Andrew Osborn)