The Ministry of Industry and Trade is preparing a scoring system to assess the Russian origin of drones

The Ministry of Industry and Trade has developed amendments to government decree No. 719 of 2015, which should introduce a point system to assess the “domesticity” of drones. The draft resolution has been published on the regulation.gov.ru portal. The explanatory note to the new draft amendments says that it is aimed at deepening the localization of the production of drones and reducing the dependence of the domestic market on foreign supplies.

The scoring system described in Decree No. 719 is used in Russia to determine whether engineering products can be recognized as domestic. Points are awarded for the use of Russian components or for the performance of certain manufacturing operations.

The key advantage that gives a set of points and inclusion in the “iron” register of the Ministry of Industry and Trade is preferences when concluding government contracts, Sergey Uchitel, partner at the Pen & Paper Bar Association, explains. The laws on public procurement and the regulation of import substitution in the IT sector oblige the state customer to look for products first of all in the register, as well as focus on a scale that determines the required percentage of domestic components in the product, he explained.

The best known application of point localization in the automotive industry. Until 2022, a number of car models produced in the Russian Federation, including those made at factories of foreign concerns, successfully scored points from the Ministry of Industry and Trade and, in total, reached the required localization parameters. But after the start of SVO in Ukraine and the departure of Western auto brands, all their factories were forced to stop due to a lack of non-localized key components.

In the draft amendments, requirements for equipment for drones vary depending on their mass and type. In particular, unmanned aerial vehicles of helicopter, aircraft and multi-rotor types are allocated into separate categories.

To include a drone in the register, its manufacturer must own the rights to the design and technical documentation of products, have service centers for their repair and maintenance, and also produce or use components made in Russia as part of the aircraft.

The list of requirements of the Ministry of Industry and Trade for drones includes a fuel system, propellers, landing gear. The highest number of points (300) can be obtained for the domestic power plant, transmission, fuel system, onboard flight control system, etc. 200 points are given for domestic systems of identification and automatic collision avoidance, and for aircraft-type drones – for propellers, landing gear, wings and fuselage. As follows from the project, by 2026 the level of localization of the production of drones should increase by an average of 3-5 times. For example, if immediately after the approval of the amendments, manufacturers of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) of a helicopter type will have to reach 800 points, then from January 1, 2026, the figure will increase to 2100.

The representative of the Ministry of Industry and Trade specified that while the project is under discussion.

But experts interviewed by Vedomosti agree that the requirements for Russian equipment for drones are underestimated. In particular, the list does not include the main components, including batteries and microelectronics, said Vitaly Munirov, an NTI Aeronet market expert. This equipment is either not produced in Russia at all, or has piece localization, the expert says.

There will be no problems with the requirement to use the fuselage, frames, hulls, power supply systems and software of Russian production, but microelectronics, flight controllers and engines are now predominantly made in China, added Nikolay Ryashin, CEO of Rusdronoport. Russian-made engines, according to him, are beginning to appear, but not in large quantities: there are not enough electric motors of good quality.

According to Ryashin, the list of the Ministry of Industry and Trade is compiled in such a way that, on the one hand, not to “tighten the screws” much, and on the other hand, to stimulate the production of critical elements of BAS in Russia. “Manufacturers would be happy to use the Russian electronic component base (ECB) and be more attractive to government customers, but the problem is that it does not exist, and the production of electronic components within companies is only advisable if there is a large mass production,” he argues. The components mentioned in the document are what domestic companies are objectively able to localize by 2026, says Nikita Danilov, CEO and founder of Fly Dron. The localization of more technologically complex components, such as power plants or microelectronics, according to him, will require much more time.

The initiative of the Ministry of Industry and Trade will probably lead first to “quasi-localization” or the mass use of Chinese contract manufacturing, but subsequently Russia should form its own market for components for drones, Ryashin believes. “For example, manufacturers of medical devices have gone the same way: from re-gluing nameplates on ultrasound and tomographs to joint ventures, assembly and localization of components,” he added.

It is not yet clear how the introduction of the point system will ultimately affect the drone industry, Ryashin continues: either the industry will really start trying to localize components and companies will start investing in electronic components after the introduction of requirements, or it will try to get out and the points will become a formality.

But it is incorrect to compare the operation of the point system in the automotive industry, the aviation industry and the drone industry due to the specifics of production, experts are encouraging. The component base and equipment for drones is much simpler, it is easier to develop a motor for a drone than to create an aircraft engine from scratch, explains Ryashin. In addition, the degree of regulation of industries will affect the development of the domestic industry, he adds. The aviation industry takes “years and millions of dollars” to certify aircraft engines, while the drones have a very short product launch cycle of months, so the market can adapt much faster, the expert is sure.

It is incorrect to compare drones and aviation, Oleg Panteleev, director of the Aviaport industry agency, agrees with him. Drones have great potential for the development of the domestic market, the trend for their use was determined at the state level, he recalls. In particular, the industrial park Rudnevo was created for the development of the unmanned industry, where engines for UAS are already being developed today, says an interlocutor in one of the companies involved in the operation of drones.

Based on the draft resolution, by 2026 the degree of localization of the production of drones should be maximum, but it is still difficult to say how successfully component manufacturers will cope with the terms of reference, says Maxim Chizhov, CEO of the agricultural drone manufacturer Agrimax Aero. For such a growth rate of localization, in addition to amendments to Decree No. 719, an approved state civil order for drones and long-term contracts for the development and supply of products are needed, he believes.