Russia continues to move along the path of drone development: by 2030, the production of drones in the country will increase fivefold. However, not all of them will be related to the defense industry, on which all forces have now been thrown to produce aircraft. Russia is actively developing technologies for the use of the "birds" known throughout the world for other purposes.
"First Technical" has collected nine popular and promising areas where Russian drones (UAVs), unmanned aerial vehicles controlled from the ground (UAVs), and unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) are already engaged or will be engaged in the coming years.
Agriculture
In a number of countries around the world, drones are already actively helping farmers monitor the condition of crops, identify plant diseases, and optimize the consumption of fertilizers and water. This makes agriculture more efficient and profitable. Agrodrones are gaining popularity in Russia: Rosaviation has already issued the first certificates of airworthiness to such aircraft. More than ten domestic companies are already working on passing certification and launching mass production of agricultural drones in 2025.
According to experts, the efficiency of field treatment with pesticides using drones will increase by 15-25%. In addition, they will be able to solve the issue of attracting labor to Russian fields: drones are cheaper than hiring qualified and not very qualified specialists. At experimental sites, drones helped increase labor productivity in agriculture by two times.
It is noteworthy that some of the drones of Russian engineers are capable of performing several types of work. For example, such solutions include the light drone "Yaz-5" from the company "Quintessence". It is designed for reconnaissance, cargo transportation and use in agriculture.
The electric "Yaz-5" allows you to transport specific equipment for reconnaissance on a cable. This is necessary when magnetic interference from the board itself is critical.
Another example of a universal drone is the hardy "Sarma" apparatus, developed by Novosibirsk State Technical University. The device with a hybrid aircraft engine can fly 1200 km without refueling, and deliver 100–120 kg of cargo to its destination. "Sarma" is designed for both cargo transportation and solving agrotechnical tasks.
Environmental monitoring and scientific research
With the help of drones, scientists, ecologists and forestry workers monitor the condition of forests, rivers and other natural resources. Drones help hunt poachers, monitor changes in ecosystems and quickly identify environmental pollution. In particular, drones for monitoring and eliminating emergencies and UAV rescue operators at the end of 2024 began work on icebreakers of the Northern Sea Route.
Also on the Northern Sea Route, BAS-200 helicopter drones will be used. They will transport cargo, explore the ice situation and search for minerals. In the event of an emergency, they will be able to connect to rescue operations.
Drones also help scientists study remote areas, such as volcanoes, glaciers, reserves, forests, and rocks. This opens up new horizons for science, allows you to collect data in real time, saving human resources. For example, in Karelia, drones in 2024 in the Ladoga Skerries National Park were able to collect information about almost 500 hectares of territories in three days. Scientists received new information about rocks, swampy areas and other places where it is difficult and risky to send an expedition.
Drones also provide rapid data transfer for more accurate research into already known phenomena and processes. For example, a drone weather forecaster was recently created for this purpose by Novosibirsk scientists. It will study the weather based on measurements of turbulence processes in the atmosphere.
<b>Medical assistance, search and rescue of people</b>
In Russia, drones have already been developed to deliver first aid kits to victims in the forest, in the mountains and in other remote places. They withstand a temperature range from -40 to +40 degrees Celsius and can carry a first aid kit weighing up to 30 kg.
Delivering vital cargo by air is many times cheaper and faster than by other means. Drones are also already actively used in some regions to search for people lost in forests, mountains, and on the water. They can quickly survey vast areas, saving rescuers time and resources.
Finally, drones will soon take over the delivery of medicines to remote regions. Such experimental flights over distances of up to 200 km have already been carried out. In particular, the BAS S-76 Sukhoi Design Bureau will calmly deliver medicines, as well as food, spare parts and other cargo up to 200 kg to the wilderness. At the same time, the S-76 does not need an airfield: the drone can take off and land vertically on a site of only 17x17 meters.
In the future, drones can also be used to deliver samples from patients from remote villages who are too far to travel to the nearest laboratory. While such deliveries have not been carried out frequently, this method is planned to be made more accessible in the coming years.
This refers not only to standard samples for blood, saliva, feces and urine tests, but also to more sensitive organic samples. At the end of 2024, Russia proved for the first time in the world the safety of transporting blood plasma by drones. The tests, which were conducted by Innopolis and the Pacific State Medical University, involved the InnoVtol-3s vertical take-off and landing UAV. The drone was able to deliver blood plasma over a distance of up to 250 km. This did not affect the quality of the biomaterial — the deviation from the standard was no more than 4%.
Work in emergency situations
Drones are becoming assistants to emergency services in emergency situations: during fires, floods, earthquakes.
Russia is actively developing a number of unmanned aerial solutions related to fire extinguishing in cities and in natural areas. For example, engineers at the InFinTech Corporation Technopark recently talked about six drones of their own design, which have different carrying capacities and specializations. A significant part of them are intended for cities, and some drones for high-rise buildings will be able to extinguish even Moscow City.
It was initially stated that mass production of this series of drones — initially 1-3 thousand units per year, and then more — would begin in 2024. However, in the past 2024, only two UAVs of this series, "Dym" and "Tuman", have been publicly presented so far. Such drones can carry shells with powder to extinguish fires and monitor the area.
To combat forest fires, Moscow specialists have developed a system for detecting fires in forests using drones and charging towers. Stations can operate at a distance of 15 km from each other. Drones will create a map of the area and automatically build a route using high-speed lidars and GPS, their built-in thermal imagers will record areas with excessive temperature indicators, and promptly transmit data to emergency services.
A similar drone-rescuer with a thermal imaging camera for detecting fires in forests was also presented at the Yenisei Siberia Scientific and Educational Center. However, it does not need charging towers. The device is planned to be localized as much as possible: the domestic components and payload for this drone in Krasnoyarsk will begin to be produced as early as 2025.
Scientists from the North Caucasus Federal University have also developed their own drone with a capsule system for rapid localization and extinguishing of fires. The new model is equipped with a pneumatic mechanical device for extinguishing a fire, which will be triggered as soon as the drone detects a fire. A built-in camera and thermal imager will help him with this. If he can't cope on his own, then the fire will be extinguished by a whole swarm.
It is known that new unmanned aircraft systems in tandem with video cameras in forests will be used for the first time in Crimea during the fire season.
The Ministry of Emergency Situations already has the Geoscan 701 UAS from the Geoscan group of companies. With the help of drones throughout Russia, including the Arctic zone, employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations conduct long-term monitoring of fire-hazardous, flood and ice conditions in real time. These UAS participate in search operations in remote places, on water areas, in forests and mountains.
Also in Russia, a special drone platform for the Ministry of Emergency Situations has already been tested. It will be useful after an earthquake for installing seismic sensors in the emergency zone. With the help of the device, rescuers will be able to install sensors and assess the degree of damage to buildings during the clearing of debris or during the evacuation of victims. The device is expected in seismically hazardous regions: the North Caucasus, southern Siberia and the Far East.
Infrastructure survey
Drones in Russia in recent years have been actively used in experimental territories to inspect bridges, high-rise buildings and power lines.
Thanks to this, it is possible to detect problems at an early stage, which helps to prevent accidents. For example, in areas where in Russia the inspection of power lines is carried out in this way, it was possible to reduce the risk of accidents by eight times.
<b>Cargo delivery</b>
A promising direction that will be actively developed. Air cargo transportation using drones has already been tested in major Russian cities: Nizhny Novgorod and Samara.
Tests were carried out on the delivery of goods by drones and in the north, for example, in the Nenets Autonomous Okrug. So far, such flights have mainly been carried out over a distance of 120-200 km, but they are planned to be increased to distances of up to 250-500 km.
Earlier, at the end of 2023, the Ministry of Economic Development proposed to make Moscow the flagship of the development of unmanned aircraft systems, and introduce a special experimental legal regime for the use of drones in the city. It was assumed that drones would deliver cargo weighing from 0.1 to 100 kg and perform a number of other tasks for residents and guests of the capital. However, this idea was later frozen indefinitely.
<b>Industry</b>
Drones actively patrol gas pipelines, reducing the cost of such work in experimental areas by three times. They are also used in the oil and gas industry for cargo transportation and delivery of oil samples from remote fields to chemical laboratories instead of cars.
Some Russian drones with appropriate equipment help to conduct geological exploration and find minerals. In particular, the Geoscan 201 and Geoscan 401 Geophysics UAS with a quantum magnetometer, which was developed by the Geoscan Group of Companies, have successfully proved that they can conduct aeromagnetic surveys of the area and recognize gold-bearing deposits. And the Alfa-E UAV from GC Quiet Wings (part of the Kalashnikov Concern) showed itself in the search for ore.
Finally, drones have recently been officially included in the arsenal of private security organizations that protect large and not very large enterprises. The corresponding federal law was signed in November 2024 by President Vladimir Putin.
<b>Preservation of cultural heritage</b>
Drones are already actively used to document architectural and historical monuments. They can also find significant objects on the ground and underground during major works: archaeological excavations, preparation of agricultural land for use, or large construction projects. The Alfa-E UAV was recently recognized as the best in this area.
During the competition, the Alfa-E drone not only determined the coordinates of objects underground, but also the materials from which they are made. However, despite this and other solutions on the Russian market, the NTI Project Support Fund has announced a competition to create a separate specialized drone for archaeologists and builders.
It will have to study the territory before the start of construction work, scan the ground to a depth of 5 meters, search for and identify metal objects, bones, ceramics, and fossils in it. For this purpose, the drone will be equipped with a metal detector, ground penetrating radars and a number of sensors. But there is a nuance: the participants of the competition are obliged to develop a method for analyzing the data obtained from the devices using a neural network.
Financial sector
A promising, but not yet fully developed area. In particular, in 2024, the Russian company Skyyer presented its special platform for monitoring the condition of the borrower's movable and immovable property.
Drones associated with the platform help track the condition of the borrower's collateral through a regular smartphone. This reduces the cost of on-site visits by collateral agencies and monitoring companies that track financial risks for credit institutions.
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