A Russian company claims to have designed an anti-drone defense system inspired by centuries-old Zeppelin airship technology, according to the country’s state media.

The development called Barrier, which uses balloons armed with nets deployed over targets, was reportedly revealed at a conference in St. Petersburg on Monday where counter-drone technologies were discussed.

During the Russian-initiated war in Ukraine, drones were widely used by both sides. Moscow used Iranian-made drones, such as the Shahed-136, while Ukraine used its long-range drones to strike oil processing facilities and military depots.

The First Airship company has created a system in which a network of balloons can hover over a target to be protected, the official news agency RIA Novosti reported.

When drones are detected approaching the target, the balloons rise into the air and “catch” the drones with a net suspended from it that can support a load weighing up to 70 pounds. Once the net is separated from the balloon, which can reach a height of 900 feet, a new net is installed.

Polina Albek, CEO of First Airship, said the developers were inspired by what happened during World War I, when airships with suspended chains were used for defensive purposes, RIA reported.

During World War I, the German military used Zeppelins extensively, both as bombers and as aerial reconnaissance aircraft.

“Our main activity is the manufacture of cargo airships, but based on the experience of our predecessors, we have created a protection system called Barrier,” Albek said, according to RIA, adding that they were produced “at specialized enterprises.”

Russian media widely reported the development described at the conference on drone detection and countermeasures technologies held Monday and Tuesday in St. Petersburg, without referring to the objects that would be protected or to the war in Ukraine.

Newsweek contacted the Russian Defense Ministry for comment.

This comes as Ukraine continues to demonstrate in recent months an increasing capability for long-range drone attacks.

In April, kyiv attacked a factory in Russia’s Alabuga special economic zone in Tatarstan that produces Iranian drones used in attacks on Ukraine and is located more than 800 miles from the Ukrainian border.

Herman Smetanin, head of the state-owned Ukrainian Defense Industry, also known as Ukroboronprom, said Ukraine had started mass production of attack drones with a range of more than 1,000 kilometers.

He told ArmyInform in an interview published June 29 that to counter Russia’s “enormous resources and super-powerful industry,” kyiv needed to be innovative and take a more “flexible and inventive” approach to weapons manufacturing.