Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered on Thursday to build and deploy drone troops as soon as possible.

"We are currently building drone troops as a separate branch of the military, and these should be developed and deployed as soon as possible," the head of state said at a meeting discussing a new state arms program, The Caspian Post reports, citing TASS.

Fighting against various unmanned aerial vehicles has required "new approaches and non-standard solutions," Putin explained.

"The new state arms program should provide for forming a universal air defense system that would function in any situation and effectively hit means of air attack, regardless of their type," the president stressed.