A scandal is brewing in Tyumen over a state contract for the development of an unmanned aerial vehicle. The company "Ermak Industries" is obliged to return 10 million rubles allocated from the regional budget after the UAV prototype it presented failed tests and turned out to be assembled from foreign components. The Ural Transport Prosecutor's Office filed a corresponding lawsuit, and the arbitration court has already seized the organization's accounts.
According to the terms of the tender won in 2024, the enterprise was supposed to create a prototype drone and components for it by January 19, 2026. However, during the demonstration to the acceptance committee, the device crashed immediately after an attempted takeoff.
Subsequent examination established that the device was not an innovative development: in fact, it is a copy of a foreign drone, the technical documentation for which is publicly available, and the assembly is made exclusively from imported parts.
After the violations were identified, the Department of Investment Policy of Tyumen Oblast unilaterally terminated the agreement and sent a notice to return the funds. The disregard of the demands by "Ermak Industries" led to legal proceedings.
