At northernmost military base Nagurskoye, a show of new radar and Chinese anti-drone weapon
The Monolit-B coastal radar system and a Chinese-made anti-drone gun was on display as Northern Fleet Head Commander Konstantin Kabantsev this week paid a visit to the remote Arctic archipelago of Franz Josef Land.
The runway at the Nagurskoye air base had been carefully shuffled free of snow as the ageing Il-18 aircraft touched down.
On board was a prominent delegation headed by Northern Fleet Head Commander Konstantin Kabantsev.
A freezing wind gushed over the 2,500 long airfield as the vice-admiral disembarked the aircraft and greeted the local base commander. There are still few signs of spring at the archipelago located at 80° North.
In the delegation that this week visited Nagurskoye was also Andrei Chibis, the governor of Murmansk region.
According to the Northern Fleet, the purpose of the visit was to inspect the tactical group of coastal forces deployed on the base. A video distributed by the Navy shows how the local commander shows the guests around and reports about preparedness and plans.
A part of the visit was also a display of the Bastion missile defence system deployed on the base.
The video also shows that the local forces are in possession of a Monolit-B coastal radar system. The system that has been in production since 2011 is designed for so-called active and passive detection and tracking of surface and air targets. It communicates with the Bastion missile system and can reportedly track objects at a range up to 450 km.
The local forces also showed off a new anti-drone gun.
Judging from the video, the weapon is a 6 bands portable drone jammer gun produced by the Chinese company Shenzhen Rongxin Communication Co.
According to the manufacturer, the weapon can "effectively land or return drones within a radius of 800-1500 meters."
The same kind of anti-drone weapon has been seen applied by Russian forces in the war of aggression against Ukraine.
The Nagurskoye base on Aleksandra Island at Franz Josef Land is located about 1,300 km north of the Kola Peninsula. The Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard is about 400 km away and the east coast of Greenland - about 1,000 km.
There is no NATO base anywhere close to Nagurskoye. The nearest Norwegian military airbase is about 1500 km away, while the US base in Thule, Greenland, is more than 2,000 km away.
The Russian Armed Forces have over the past decade invested major sums in the building of new air force infrastructure across the Arctic. The Nagurskoye base was reported all-year-round operational in 2020. It is reportedly capable of handling “any kind of aircraft”.
Nearby is a major building complex that is designed to house a significant number of troops. The Trefoil base complex includes 14,000 square meters of connected buildings.
