UAC chooses importer of Chinese drones as a partner

As Kommersant found out, Glory Air, a partner of the United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) for the production of drones, does not yet have its own production. The company imports Chinese drones and re-equips them, including for military needs. Glory Air is part of the transport company VR Logistic, which until April 2022 was led by the second cousin of the President of the Russian Federation Alexander Putin. The minority shareholder of VR Logistic is the former deputy head of the Ministry of Transport and head of the T department in the FSB Gennady Moshkov. The announcement of the creation of the joint venture on the eve of the Army-2023 forum, Kommersant’s sources believe, is due to the enterprise’s desire to join the state defense order as a partner of the UAC.

Glory Air, with which UAC announced on August 11, does not yet have its own production facility. As Kommersant was told in the UAC, they expect that “Glory Air’s significant experience in delivering drones to the market is a great advantage for the future project.” The partners plan to work together on a line of civilian aircraft-type drones with vertical take-off and landing capabilities in the payload weight range from 20 kg to 200 kg.

Plans for special-purpose drones, which the joint venture will also deal with, are “to be disclosed prematurely.” At the Archipelago forum held in Novosibirsk in early August, Glory Air presented, among other things, a kamikaze drone for attacking air and ground targets. The Drone Killer, as stated on the website, is capable of attacking “in automatic mode or on command of the pilot” from a distance of 600 m.

Dmitry Morozov, the general director of Glory Air, also refused to comment on plans for military drones. He confirmed to Kommersant that the company does not yet have experience of its own production: “Until now, we did not have such an opportunity, investments were limited.” On a small site at the Bolshoe Gryzlovo airfield (in the Serpukhov district of the Moscow region), the company, according to him, “brings to mind and localizes imported drones.” Mr. Morozov added that, first of all, the partners intend to develop the direction of unmanned cargo delivery and monitoring (forests, pipelines, power lines and highways). Now, according to the company’s website, Glory Air offers, among other things, industrial and amateur drones from the Chinese manufacturer DJI, which has left the Russian market.

According to SPARK-Interfax, according to the results of last year, Glory Air, which has been unprofitable since 2018, received 5.4 million rubles. revenue. On July 1, the company came under Ukrainian sanctions. Glory Air is part of the larger transport company VR Logistic with revenue of RUB 911 million in 2022. and a profit of 18 million. BP Logistics completed nine government contracts, four of them for the supply of medical gloves commissioned by the Ministry of Internal Affairs. From 2021 to April 2022, Alexander Mikhailovich Putin, a second cousin of the President of the Russian Federation, was the CEO of the company.

A 10% stake in BP Logistics belongs to Gennady Moshkov, former deputy head of the Ministry of Transport and ex-deputy head of the economic security department of the FSB, ex-head of the T department (transport). Mr. Moshkov was a member of the board of directors of Aeroflot. Another 90% stake in VR Logistic is owned by the Cypriot VR Logistic Ltd.

Three Kommersant sources connect VR Logistic with the CEO of the BAS Consortium (JV Russian Post and Skolkovo Capital) Denis Baryshnikov. Since 2008, he headed a subsidiary of UAC “Volgatechnoport” – the management company of the SEZ based on the Ulyanovsk-Vostochny airport. After UAC got rid of the asset in 2011, Mr. Baryshnikov became the director of its branch, OAO SEZ. He held senior positions in the financial unit of the Volga-Dnepr air carrier and, according to a Kommersant source, “tried to promote unmanned projects there.”

Another Kommersant source clarified that Denis Baryshnikov is not the beneficiary of BP Logistic, but “represents the interests of real investors in a group of the largest financial institutions of the Russian Federation.” The interests of investors, according to him, lie in cooperation with a major player represented by UAC with the participation of a company that has a supply channel from China, which can allow it to take a significant share of the Russian unmanned market.

Denis Baryshnikov himself denies having an actual connection with BP Logistic: “We are advising JV UAC and Glory Air as an expert group of the BAS Consortium and are considering the possibility of investing in a common project, but now there is no affiliation with BP Logistic” .

Kommersant’s interlocutors explain the announcement of the creation of the joint venture mainly by Glory Air’s desire to take part in the state defense order under the “flag of a large and understandable state supplier (UAC)” on the eve of the Army-2023 forum, which will be held from 14 to 20 August. If China’s export restrictions do not apply to critical components from September 1, the company will be able to continue screwdriver production, says one of Kommersant’s interlocutors.

The UAC already has experience in developing large combat drones, notes Aviaport Executive Director Oleg Panteleev, mentioning the S-70 Okhotnik. The corporation is working on projects of aircraft-type vertical takeoff and landing drones. Glory Air has a line of smaller drones with technologies developed jointly with China. The idea is to consistently replace Chinese components “and build a wide product line for any task for the domestic market and exports,” says Mr. Panteleev. The opportunity to participate in the implementation of the state order, according to the expert, “is good in terms of launching production immediately in large volumes,” while the State Defense Order does not provide “comparable profitability with the civilian market.”

Aigul Abdullina