The Ministry of Industry and Trade was proposed to increase the register of drone manufacturers

According to Kommersant, market participants have approached the Ministry of Industry and Trade with a proposal to at least double the register of manufacturers of unmanned vehicles. Now the preliminary list includes about a hundred enterprises, including the largest ones: Russian Helicopters, UZGA, Aeromax, Geoscan. Companies not included in the list fear that it will be frozen, and the entry criteria will remain opaque: this will cut them off from the state order, and also leave employees without deferrals from the army and tax benefits. The Ministry of Industry and Trade expects that the register will be approved after “clarification of the criteria for recognizing Russian products.” But experts believe that with a level of drone localization of 10-30%, this argument is untenable.

UAV manufacturers are afraid of not being included in the unified register of manufacturers of unmanned aircraft and its components, which is being formed by the Ministry of Industry and Trade. The department has already included 106 organizations in the list (Kommersant has it), the approval of which is planned for the fall. In companies not yet taken into account, they talk about the risks of “conservation of the list” or possible difficulties when getting into it.

The situation was discussed in May at meetings in the ministry, during which NTI Aeronet proposed to supplement the register by including 85 more drone manufacturers and 41 component manufacturers. Without commenting on the content, NTI confirmed to Kommersant that they had drawn up their proposal “as part of the preparation of the national project.” They added that the principle of maintaining the registry is now being worked out “with all participants.”

Being in the register is a condition and a guarantee for providing companies with a certain set of benefits, Gleb Babintsev, head of Aeronext, explained: “This set is being worked out, and we don’t see the final register yet.” “Unfortunately, the inclusion in this register of companies providing services – UAS operators who buy equipment is not yet being considered,” he added. In his opinion, it would be expedient to take them into account, since they “have a large component in the development of special software” and they form the added value of drones on the market.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade clarified to Kommersant that the register will be formed “after the adoption of appropriate changes to government decree No. 719” (on the criteria for recognizing manufactured products as Russian). “Now there are several companies in the register without taking into account the requirements being formed, as well as without taking into account the OKPD codes that will be introduced,” they added.

Now large manufacturers are included in the unified register, including Russian Helicopters, Kronstadt, UZGA, Aeromax (part of AFK Sistema) and others. At the same time, at a meeting with the President of the Russian Federation on April 28, First Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Belousov said that by September “the absolute majority of drone manufacturers” would be able to get there. According to him, for small companies this will mean that “they will come out of the shadows, become visible and attractive to large investors”, and will also be able to use state support tools.

According to Kommersant’s interlocutor, a request has “formed” in the industry for developers and manufacturers of drones to be subject to the benefits provided for IT companies. According to preliminary data, income tax benefits, a reduction in the rate of insurance premiums, a zero VAT rate in the event of the transfer of exclusive rights to equipment to the state, as well as simplified access to public procurement are now being discussed.

Some Kommersant sources in the industry believe that this factor can be used to “cut off” companies not included in the list from the state order, the volume of which until 2030 is estimated at 200 billion rubles. “The register will be approved by autumn, the “giants” will start receiving government contracts, and we still don’t know how and under what conditions to apply to the register,” says one of them. Nikolai Ryashin, General Director of Rusdronoport (not included in the register), shares these fears: “There is a risk that large players will turn the market around for themselves and will not allow small and medium-sized companies to develop.” The criteria for access to the registry should be as transparent as possible and not prescribed for specific manufacturers, he notes.

When working out benefits, it would also be worthwhile to provide for preferential loans, moratoriums on various checks, simplified residency in technoparks, says Vitaly Munirov, general director of the Kursir company. At the same time, he adds, “clear and understandable rules are extremely important not only for the inclusion of manufacturers in the list, but also the procedure for their exclusion from it.”

Industry leaders, of course, should be supported, says Andrey Timofeev, CEO of Optiplein, which is part of the NTI, but “the door cannot be closed to support measures for developing, new and future companies.” “I doubt that such a negative development of events will materialize, but if it comes to this, then the industry will react accordingly,” he concluded.

Discrimination against small manufacturers in depriving them of benefits and reducing competition in public procurement is fraught with “monopolization of the market by a number of its largest players and imitation of results,” says Sergey Detenyshev, chairman of the board of the Association of Small Aviation Enterprises (MalAP). At the same time, he believes, restrictions in the form of “criteria for recognition as Russian” do not stand up to scrutiny in a situation where “most major players are engaged in SKD assembly from Chinese components: from electronics to engines.” Andrei Belousov said at the end of April that almost 100% of the power plants of electric motors and internal combustion engines, 90% of power supply elements and 95% of flight and navigation equipment are imported. He estimated the overall level of localization at 10-30%. According to Sergei Detenyshev, the work with the national project should be started “at least with the creation of piston engines, and not with showing their mock-ups.”

Aigul Abdullina