Russian Firms Develop “Red Button” System to Identify and Force Civilian Drones to Land

According to Lianhe Zaobao citing Xinhua, Russian companies Glonass and Element have jointly developed a drone identification system called “Red Button” that can be embedded in any civilian drone and, in emergencies or cases of illegal flights, allow regulators to send commands forcing the drone to land. The system uses Russia’s GLONASS satellite navigation to track drones and can still identify them without a cellular network signal; developers said command transmission is encrypted to prevent unauthorized data tampering. The system has completed its first test and is planned to be extended to unmanned vehicles, especially self-driving trucks. Drone expert Pavel Kamnev said Russian government decrees require drones operating in Russia to be identifiable or designed to be forcibly intercepted by air defense units.