Ukraine's long-range drone strikes are becoming an increasingly serious challenge for russia. Defending such a vast territory with conventional air defense assets alone has proven extremely difficult, prompting Moscow to look for new ways to improve its counter-drone capabilities. One concept recently highlighted by russian media proposes creating a network of unmanned ground vehicles equipped with standardized combat modules and linked together through a centralized command-and-control system. Read more: Following Strike on Oil Refinery 15 km From Kremlin, russians Brought Pantsir System From the Front Lines to Protect Moscow, Signaling a Shortage of Air Defense Missiles Rather than deploying conventional unmanned ground vehicles fitted with remote weapon stations, the proposal envisions using fully autonomous Pantsir-S air-defense systems. One suggested platform is the recently unveiled KamAZ-65119 autonomous dump truck, whose testing russia announced earlier this year. Under the concept, Pantsir-S systems mounted on autonomous chassis could be deployed to protect rear-area infrastructure, patrolling pre-programmed routes without onboard crews. According to the proposal, a single operator could supervise a network of five to ten such vehicles. From Defense Express's perspective, the concept could address certain operational challenges, particularly the need for large numbers of trained crews to operate air-defense systems. At the same time, it is far from a comprehensive solution to russia's growing drone problem. It still requires sufficient numbers of Pantsir-S systems, which remain a limited resource. Moreover, experience has shown that even areas with some of russia's highest concentrations of air-defense assets remain vulnerable to Ukrainian drone strikes. For example, despite russia deploying large numbers of Pantsir systems around Moscow and its outskirts, Ukrainian drones have repeatedly struck military facilities and warehouses in the vicinity of the russian capital. More importantly, defeating drones depends on much more than interceptor systems alone. The effectiveness of any air-defense network also relies