Stung by Ukrainian attacks on oil refineries and other critical infrastructure, Russia has developed a new anti-drone missile specifically designed to protect government and industrial sites.
In theory, the new air defense system could help Russia repel repeated Ukrainian attacks that have inflicted huge damage on Russia’s energy sector. Between September 2024 and February 2025, repeated Ukrainian strikes on infrastructure have inflicted at $714 million in damage, according to an investigation by Radio Free Liberty and other groups. The damage has piled up as Ukraine shifted from attacking military targets, such as supply depots, in favor of hitting economic infrastructure.
“Oil storage facilities were the most common target,” the report found. “Oil and gas storage facilities, refineries, and pumping stations were successfully hit 27 times between September and mid-February.” Russia’s refining capacity has been reduced by 15 percent, according to a March 2024 Reuters analysis.
Russian drones and missiles have also heavily damaged Ukrainian energy infrastructure, especially Ukraine’s capacity to generate electricity, which has the potential to cripple Ukrainian manufacturing as well as undermine public morale when there is no juice to warm homes during winter. Thus it is no surprise that ceasefire talks between Kyiv and Moscow are starting with pledges to halt attacks on energy infrastructure.
But with Ukraine claiming that Russia is still attacking its energy sites, and Russia refusing to agree to a full battlefield cease fire, Russia has reason to fear that its infrastructure will continue to be targeted. Not just oil refineries, but chemical plants, weapons factories and other places that provide the sinews of the Russian war effort and civilian economy.
Thus the Krona-E (“Crown”). The air defense system is “ideally suited” for protecting “important government facilities, special cargo in storage areas, strategic communications structures, sites of primary concern, and urban infrastructure,” according to the product description on manufacturer Kalashnikov’s Web site.
A graphic on the Web site shows what looks to be a standard battlefield air defense vehicle: an eight-wheeled armored vehicle, with a turret fitted with six missile tubes plus four reloads. But “as the company representatives emphasized, the new system is not intended for use at the front, but ‘to cover government facilities’ and other civilian facilities of special importance,” according to Russian newspaper Kommersant.
The Krona-E appears to be based on the Sosna (“Pine”) mobile air defense system. Rather than radar, the Sosna uses daylight and thermal cameras to detect targets, and then guides the missile to the target using a laser beam. “It lacks standard radar detection means, so when guiding and tracking a target, the operator relies entirely on optical-electronic systems,” Kommersant said.
But the Krona-E will have two small radars to detect low-flying threats such as drones. It will be armed with bigger and more sophisticated descendants of Cold War man-portable surface-to-air missiles such as the SA-7. The 9M333 missile with infrared homing, and the newer 9M340 missiles with laser guidance, have ranges of 3 to 5 miles. The Krona-E reportedly can be integrated with other air defense networks to enable the system to automatically engage targets.
Some analysts claim these Russian air defense missiles are “raw and underdeveloped.” Using short-range anti-aircraft missiles to target drones is a more economical and effective approach than using larger and more expensive surface-to-air missiles. Yet as the Ukraine war has shown, it is cheaper for the attacker to use drones than for the defender to stop them with missiles.
Either way, this is a major change for Russian air defense. “Until now, all short-range anti-aircraft missile systems (Strela-10) were developed in the USSR and Russia primarily to provide air defense at the tactical level of ground forces,” Kommersant noted. “Industrial facilities and critical infrastructure were to be covered by air defense systems of a much greater range (S-75, S-125, S-200, S-300, etc.).”
The Krona-E also shows that nations now have to protect their critical infrastructure and industrial base against drones, in the same way that troops at the front require air defense. There are no more safe areas.
About the Author: Michael Peck
Michael Peck is a defense writer whose work has appeared in Business Insider, Forbes, Defense News, Foreign Policy magazine, and other publications. He holds an MA in political science from Rutgers Univ. Follow him on Twitter and LinkedIn.
