The Kremlin’s inability to provide centralised protection for industrial and infrastructure facilities against drones is effectively forcing it to shift responsibility for their security onto the enterprises themselves. In the first half of 2026, Russia’s commercial sector increased purchases of counter-UAV equipment 6.6-fold compared with the same period last year, reaching $5.32 million (RUB 441.3 million).
Companies are expanding the range of equipment they purchase. Stationary and portable drone detectors and direction-finding systems, warning systems, and equipment for jamming control channels, data transmission and satellite navigation are seeing the strongest demand. At the same time, metal frames, protective nets and canopies are being installed over buildings. These are cheaper than electronic systems, although their use is limited by construction and fire safety regulations.
Large enterprises are forming mobile response teams equipped with drone detection and suppression systems. Setting up a single such team costs between $600,000 and $850,000 (RUB 50–70 million).
Fuel and energy companies and industrial enterprises, warehouse and logistics operators, marketplaces and shipping companies are investing most actively in such protection. However, the surge in purchases does not mean that businesses are moving towards comprehensive protection. Most companies rely on individual detection or jamming systems, while a multi-layered defence system requires substantial investment in personnel, equipment and infrastructure.
The result is widespread improvisation, with no common standards for data exchange or technical compatibility between detection and jamming systems, let alone centralised management. Each enterprise is left to protect itself as best it can, and this fragmented approach is creating problems for the Russians themselves: false alarms, mutual radio interference between neighbouring facilities, and purchases of expensive equipment that does not correspond to the actual threats.
The more money Russian businesses invest in protecting themselves, the more apparent it becomes that the Kremlin simply does not have a centralised defence system.
