Deputy Head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade Vasily Shpak, in an exclusive interview with RG, spoke about the department’s plans to develop the industry of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS). According to the official, six more research and production centers specializing in such equipment will appear in Russia.
According to the national project “Unmanned Aircraft Systems”, by 2030 it is necessary to increase the production volume of Russian UAS to 33 thousand units, recalled Vasily Shpak. Moreover, the achievement of this indicator does not depend on the specific type of UAS or the scale of activity of manufacturers. Along with large businesses, small innovative enterprises also participate: both in the system of developers and manufacturers.
“To successfully solve the assigned tasks, we are creating research and production centers (RPCs) in the regions of Russia. Two are already operating in the Samara and Tomsk regions. Now the status of RPCs has been assigned to six more sites: in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Perm, Ryazan, Veliky Novgorod, and on Sakhalin,” Shpak said.
The official explained that residents of these NPCs will carry out research, development, and technological work, plus produce products, components, and components in the field of unmanned aircraft systems, as a means of protection against the unlawful use of unmanned aircraft systems.
“The question is not only and not simply about creating the industry itself and the possibility of developing and producing drones. It is a question of the possibility of deep localization, managing the entire technological stack of development and production. The most important thing is that what we are doing all should ultimately affect the efficiency economy in the industries where we will use them. And here we need more scenarios for using drones with an understanding of the models of their economic efficiency because ultimately this should lead to increased efficiency and increased labor productivity,” Shpak emphasized.