The national project on drones worth 900 billion rubles will start working next year

The national project for the development of the industry of unmanned aerial systems (UAS) will work in full force from January 1, 2024. This was reported in the secretariat of the First Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Andrey Belousov.

“From January 1, 2024, the national project should work in full force, so today it is necessary to start implementing measures that will allow this work to be launched,” Belousov said following the results of the presidium of the government commission on the development of drones, which discussed the plan to launch the national project.

Earlier, Vedomosti wrote that the amount of funding for the national project would amount to 898 billion rubles. The secretariat confirmed that we are talking about the allocation of more than 800 billion rubles. until 2030 from all funding sources.

During the meeting, representatives of the federal executive authorities noted that today a simplified procedure for the use of UAS in agriculture has already been adopted (effective from March 1, 2024), the procedure for certification of UAS has been simplified, and three production facilities for UAVs have been launched on the territory of the industrial park in Rudnevo in Moscow and launched the training of UAS pilots in the capital. It is specified that 1490 drones have already been produced in Rudnevo, it is expected that by the end of the year their number will increase to 5000.

According to order President Vladimir Putin, the national project for the development of BAS must be approved by September 1, 2023. Deputy Prime Minister Andrey Belousov has been appointed curator of the national project, and Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov, Minister of Industry, has been appointed the head of the national project.

June 28 government approved strategy for the development of unmanned aircraft until 2030 and for the future until 2035. The main goal of the document is the emergence over the next 6.5 years of a new branch of the economy related to the production and use of civilian drones. The strategy includes five main areas: stimulating demand for domestic UAS, developing and mass-producing such systems, developing infrastructure, training personnel for unmanned aircraft, and fundamental and advanced research in the field of UAS.

In April, Putin allowedthat the volume of the unmanned aircraft industry in Russia can reach 1 trillion rubles. According to Belousov, by the end of 2026 Russia will enter the production of drones in the amount of 18,000 units per year, which will cover 52% of domestic demand. In early August, First Deputy Prime Minister declaredthat already in 2024, 18,000 large and medium-sized drones should be produced in Russia.