Russia ramps up aircraft shelter construction to counter Ukrainian drone attacks

Defense Express reported the information.

Ukraine's Armed Forces have targeted the Belbek airfield in occupied Crimea multiple times, prompting Russia to intensify fortifications and add aircraft protection, particularly against long-range drones, as recent satellite images reveal.

This was reported by The War Zone, which obtained recent images of the Belbek airbase dated December 19. The photos show about 10 aircraft parking shelters in various stages of construction, an additional fortified structure of unclear purpose, and extra lattice frameworks for lightweight coverings.

The issue of constructing aircraft shelters is relevant for both Russia and Ukraine. As of May this year, an analysis of satellite images by Defense Express concluded that among airbases relatively close to Ukraine's border, the only one where shelters were preemptively built was the Marinovka airbase in the Volgograd region, 450 km from the border.

Despite the construction of shelters, Ukrainian long-range drones successfully struck targets at the Marinovka airbase in August this year.

After Ukrainian drones hit the Millerovo airbase in July, Russia announced a plan to build protective structures for aircraft on its airbases. This announcement, made by Defense Ministry official Belousov, was framed as a "bottom-up" initiative driven by "war correspondents." 

“It seems that Russia has finally decided to take the issue more seriously, especially considering the recent permission granted to strike Russian territory with ATACMS and Storm Shadow/SCALP-EG missiles,” Defense Express noted.

This is evidenced by a series of satellite images released this fall, showing large-scale construction works at the Khalino airbase near Kursk and in Krymsk.

According to The War Zone, Russia is constructing at least 70 shelters, including those at Primorsko-Akhtarsk, Yeisk, Morozovsk, Millerovo, and, as recently noted, now also at Belbek.