Russia Equips at Least Four Warships With EW Systems to Counter Ukrainian Drones

Russia has begun arming its large surface warships with new electronic warfare systems in an apparent attempt to counter Ukrainian drone attacks, Defence Blog reported on July 12.

The outlet based its account on imagery circulating in recent days on Russian military-affiliated social media channels. The anti-drone complex, identified as "Peroyed-M," has reportedly been spotted on four vessels of the Russian Navy:

• the Project 1164 guided-missile cruiser Varyag;

• the Project 20380 corvette Steregushchiy;

• the Project 1155 large anti-submarine ship Udaloy;

• the Project 11540 guard ship Neustrashimy.

Peroyed-M combines a drone-detection system with electronic jamming equipment, according to the same publication. It was built primarily to counter small unmanned aircraft, particularly FPV drones and reconnaissance quadcopters.

Those are the same cheap, mass-produced systems Ukraine has used with growing effectiveness against Russian ground forces and, increasingly, against ships far from any front line.

The complex is paired with a radar unit called Repeynik, a compact, wearable system Russian state media first described in late 2022, the report noted. It can detect targets with a radar signature as small as that of a commercial quadcopter at ranges up to 15 kilometers (9.3 miles) and altitudes up to 5,000 meters (16,400 feet).

Repeynik tracks objects moving as fast as 200 kilometers per hour (124 mph) across a full 360-degree scan, per the outlet.

Once the radar picks up a target, it can cue an automated, self-aiming turret. The turret jams a drone's control and video links at ranges up to roughly 2.5 kilometers (1.6 miles), Defence Blog wrote.

It operates across a broad frequency range that reportedly includes some of the nonstandard bands Ukrainian FPV operators use to evade conventional jammers. Russian defense-industry reporting this year indicated the turret had cleared testing for mass production, the outlet added.

Every prior public description framed the hardware as portable, infantry-carried equipment, the publication emphasized. It splits into two modules, light enough for a single soldier to strap to combat gear. Such a set deploys within about five minutes of a front line or a fixed checkpoint and runs for up to eight hours on an internal battery.

The tactical rationale for moving such a system onto a warship's deck fits a broader shift already underway in the naval war, according to Defence Blog. Ukraine has spent much of 2026 extending its long-range strike campaign against Russian naval assets well beyond the Black Sea.

It has combined maritime unmanned surface vessels with airborne drones launched from Ukrainian territory or smuggled close to Russian ports and shipyards, the outlet added.

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A radar-cued jamming turret that can disable a quadcopter's control link before it reaches the hull addresses precisely that vulnerability. Its simultaneous appearance on a cruiser, a corvette, a large anti-submarine ship, and a frigate would suggest Moscow is treating the threat as serious.

Russia appears to be retrofitting across multiple ship classes and fleets rather than testing the system on a single vessel, Defence Blog concluded.

The retrofit follows months of cruder improvisation across Russia's fleets. In May, a Federal Security Service Coast Guard Project 22460 "Okhotnik" patrol ship appeared with anti-drone netting fitted over its superstructure, protection reportedly financed by civilian donations.

Earlier that same month, Project 21980 "Grachonok" anti-sabotage boats were photographed under similar screens. Four Okhotnik-class ships operate from temporarily occupied Crimea—the Bezuprechnyy, Provornyy, Ametist, and Izumrud—with two more, the Rubin and Zhemchug, stationed in neighboring Krasnodar Krai.

The pressure now extends across the whole sea rather than individual hulls. Ukrainian strikes have pushed Russia toward losing effective control of the Sea of Azov, with 105 shadow-fleet vessels hit over eight days.

The campaign has tightened steadily around the sea's ports. Drone units struck a shadow-fleet tanker and the Kurgannefteprodukt oil depot in Taganrog, on the Azov coast, during overnight operations on May 30, along with a maritime oil terminal in temporarily occupied Feodosia.

Taganrog functions as a logistics and industrial hub supporting Russian military operations, and the strikes there were coordinated through the newly established Deep Strike Center of the Unmanned Systems Forces.

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