AINEWS
The Leningrad Region governor says samples could be selected by October; a RAND engineer questions how well a small, gun armed raft can actually stop drones.
A small floating platform sits in the Russian port of Vyborg with a single remotely controlled gun on top and a set of unarmored hatches around its upper hull. It is the prototype that Leningrad Region governor Aleksandr Drozdenko said on 18 August Russia will produce to defend St Petersburg and the surrounding coast from Ukrainian marine and aerial drones.
Drozdenko announced the program on Telegram, framing it as a way to "protect the borders" of the Leningrad Region against a stream of unmanned surface vessels (USVs) and one-way attack drones that have hit Russian naval bases, port infrastructure, and fuel and energy facilities along the Baltic and Lake Ladoga approaches. The prototype, designated PLOT-40, was first publicly displayed in Vyborg in late July. Drozdenko said samples are expected to be identified by October, with purchase to follow if trials clear (RFE/RL).
Independent OSINT analyst H.I. Sutton, who has tracked Russian naval adaptations closely, describes the platform as a small barge-sized hull fitted with a remotely operated autocannon or heavy machine gun, electro-optical sensors for targeting, and a small perimeter deck that would allow shoulder-launched missiles in calm conditions (H.I. Sutton). A related variant, PLOT-47, has been shown with a roof-mounted gun turret (Defense News). Whether the vessel is designed to be crewed, remotely piloted, or both is not publicly confirmed.
That is the question the program will be judged on. Scott Savitz told RFE/RL that effectiveness comes down to how fast and accurately the platform can identify and engage an incoming drone or boat. On the platform's survivability, the prototype shows five small hatches around its upper hull and a larger entry hatch, and those openings do not appear heavily armored (RFE/RL).
Savitz also noted that remote control does not automatically mean fewer people are needed to operate the system, and a crew on board can outperform a remote operator on situational awareness and adaptability. Whether Russia is actually shrinking its personnel footprint, or just relocating it from a larger ship to a smaller, more exposed platform, depends on how the final version is configured (Maritime Executive).
The proposal answers a real and growing problem: repeated Ukrainian strikes on Russian port and energy infrastructure in the Baltic and on the lakes around St Petersburg, the political backdrop Drozdenko is reacting to (Interesting Engineering). The October procurement target is the operational test. If trials show high identification-and-strike accuracy and the platform can absorb at least one drone or boat hit, the visible vulnerability reads as a design choice rather than a flaw. If they do not, the armed raft is a cheaper, more exposed version of the same problem the larger ships it is meant to replace were already struggling to solve.