Since June, guards may carry shotguns. What changes
The guard force of a typical industrial site today has a perimeter, posts and a patrol vehicle. Since June an important item has been added to that set: security organizations are permitted to use smoothbore and combat firearms. Against the backdrop of intensifying UAV attacks the decision looks logical — for the first time, the crew on the ground has at least some means of engaging an aerial target.
But permission to shoot and the ability to hit are different things. Real-world experience of using small arms against drones has already accumulated, and its verdict is unambiguous: against a small, fast aerial target small arms are unreliable. Betting the safety of a site — where damage from a single drone hit is estimated at 50–500 million rubles — on one shotgun blast means replacing a protection system with hope for luck.
This article is not against the shotgun. It is an analysis of where small arms hit their physical limit, and what has to work beyond that limit.
Why small arms are unreliable against an aerial target
The question of how to shoot down a drone runs into geometry and time. An attacking FPV or strike aircraft is a small target: a compact airframe, hard to see against the sky, appearing suddenly. And it is a fast target: for comparison, a modern interceptor reaches 150 km/h — attack aircraft fly at comparable speeds, covering a hundred meters in a matter of seconds.
What this means for the shooter:
- The firing window lasts seconds. By the time the target is spotted, the weapon shouldered and the lead taken, the drone has already displaced by tens of meters.
- Distance works against you. The effective range of a shot load is tens of meters; a target passing at altitude or off to the side is simply out of reach.
- Lead on a three-dimensional trajectory. An aerial target maneuvers in three planes — a skill absent from standard guard training.
- The stress of a real raid. Shooting at a range target and at an attacking aircraft over a tank farm are different disciplines.
None of this is theoretical speculation. The unreliability of small arms against small, fast aerial targets has been proven by the practice of their use.
Shotgun and machine gun: why no guarantee
The shotgun is considered the best small arm against drones — the pellet spread compensates for aiming error. But the spread only works at close range: with distance the pellet density drops and the energy of individual pellets stops being enough to damage the airframe. A drone noticed at 300–500 meters is out of a shotgun's reach — and by the time it is closer, it may already be in its terminal dive onto the target.
A machine gun adds range but does not solve the problem: against a small high-speed target, without fire-control systems, the hit probability stays low — and every round fired at an aerial target lands somewhere, which over an industrial site is a hazard of its own. The practical bottom line is short: neither a shotgun nor a machine gun delivers a guaranteed UAV kill.
The asymmetry is brutal: the attacking drone needs to succeed once, while the defense cannot afford to fail even once. A defensive means with a non-guaranteed result against a target worth hundreds of millions is not a defense line — it is a lottery.
A similar logic of limits applies to electronic warfare: jamming is powerless against fiber-optic and autonomous aircraft — see the analysis in Kinetic Drone Interception vs Jamming (EW).
What works: air interception
Reliable protection from FPV drones and strike UAVs is built not on trying to hit the target from the ground but on meeting it in the air. The VOLKODAV air-intercept scheme looks like this:
- Early detection. The thermal early detection system finds the target on the approaches and hands the crew target designation — this loop is explained in our article on target designation.
- The operator aims and launches. The crew points the interceptor at the target; the human's part ends here.
- Autonomous intercept. The onboard AI of the VOLKODAV 2 interceptor tracks the target through the forward-looking thermal camera feed and rams it — with no operator, no GPS and no explosives.
The difference from a shotgun is fundamental. The interceptor reaches 150 km/h and operates at up to 5 km from the launch point — it meets the target where shot pellets will never fly, and at altitudes no shooter can reach. Video homing removes the lead problem: the hit is delivered not by a human reflex but by an algorithm that tracks the target all the way to contact.
The interceptor complements the crew's kit
Let us place the accents correctly: air interception complements the crew's weapons kit, it does not replace it. The shotgun stays with the guards for the close-in zone, ground threats and the tasks where it is effective. The interceptor takes over the part of the spectrum where the shotgun is physically powerless — distance and altitude.
| Parameter | Smoothbore / machine gun | VOLKODAV 2 interceptor |
|---|---|---|
| Working distance | Tens of meters | Up to 5 km from the launch point |
| Altitude coverage | Limited | Meets the target at its altitude |
| Aiming | Shooter's eye and lead | Onboard AI video homing |
| Night and poor visibility | Practically ruled out | Forward-looking thermal camera |
| Result | No guarantee — proven by practice | Target tracked to a physical ram |
| Role in the kit | Close-in zone, ground tasks | Air line on the approaches |
The crew does not need to become FPV aces: the operating principle is point-and-launch, with lock and tracking handled by the onboard AI. We train the customer's personnel and support the system in service — the kit integrates into the existing guard force rather than requiring a new one to be hired.
Every unit gets its own intercept kit
The field experience with small arms against drones leads to an organizational conclusion: the air-intercept capability must be a standard-issue tool of the guard force, not a remote service. Our principle: every unit gets its own intercept kit. The VOLKODAV 2 package includes an interceptor drone with onboard AI, a control kit (pilot remote, FPV goggles, operator workstation), an early detection system with target designation, homing software, crew training and support with a stock of expendable drones — details in the VOLKODAV 2 announcement.
The economics close from the first engagement: an interceptor costs about 350,000 rubles, while a prevented strike means 50–500 million rubles saved. The package is aimed at private security companies at critical sites, corporate security services of fuel-and-energy enterprises, departmental guard forces and integrators extending existing protection systems.
Conclusion
Permitting shotguns is a necessary step, but it does not solve the site air-defense problem. Small arms are unreliable against a small, fast aerial target, and practice has proven it: neither a shotgun nor a machine gun guarantees a UAV kill. The working scheme is layered: the shotgun in the close-in zone as the last line, and air interception on the approaches as the primary tool against the aerial target.
VOLKODAV 2 was built precisely for that role: a self-homing interceptor with a thermal camera that finishes the job on its own after launch. A prototype is being built now, and we are ready to show a live intercept at a test range in real conditions. To discuss a kit for your unit — leave a request.