The government is preparing a national project for the development of unmanned aerial systems, which involves several formats of state support for the industry, including grant support for manufacturers. And the Ministry of Industry and Trade will create a separate structural unit that will focus on the tasks of supporting the industry.
First Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Andrey Belousov held a meeting with manufacturers of unmanned aerial systems ( UAS ), where, together with representatives of interested federal executive authorities , institutions and centers of competence, he discussed the concept of a national project for the development of UAS and the strategic directions of the industry .
According to Andrey Belousov , the basis for the breakthrough development of the industry and the consolidation of its key players should be the national project for the development of unmanned aerial systems , the development of which is being carried out on behalf of the President of the Russian Federation .
“As part of this work, we must “open the sky” for drones in terms of changing the regulation , as well as create technical means for monitoring and controlling the movement of drones . In addition , we must provide support measures for domestic manufacturers – both drones themselves and manufacturers of components – and the market as a whole,” the First Vice Prime Minister emphasized .
According to Andrey Belousov , it is necessary to stimulate the demand for services using UAS in the sectors of the economy , form a comprehensive state order for drones , organize specialized education and saturate the industry with personnel , as well as create a convenient certification system for drones , as well as ensure the safety of their use .
“The first big task is the development of demand . It includes the opening of new market segments and the removal of excessive restrictions on the use of drones . The second big block is to stimulate the development of mass production of domestic unmanned systems and components . Here we will use two basic support tools . Firstly , the Industry Development Fund , which is already working with the first applications.Secondly , we will launch a grant support program for the development of components through the Agency for Technological Development .Moreover, this block is closely connected with the development of criteria for “Russianness” within the framework of the 719th government decree , since it is necessary to ensure a high level of localization of the production of drones,” said Vasily Osmakov, First Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation .
The Ministry of Industry and Trade , the Industry Development Fund , and the Technological Development Agency did not answer ComNews’ questions .
The Deputy Head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Russia noted that in order to meet the demand , the forms of the state civil order plan have been developed and agreed upon . They are sent to the main customers ( FOIV , state corporations , state companies ), on the basis of whose assessments the state order , support measures and the amount of necessary financing will be formed . Vasily Osmakov also announced the creation of a separate structural block of the Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade , which will focus on the tasks of supporting the industry . In addition , he outlined several more important areas ,including joint work with the Ministry of Transport of Russia to develop infrastructure , improve the efficiency of BAS certification and standardization systems , with the Ministry of Economic Development in terms of developing experimental legal regimes , as well as providing the industry with highly qualified personnel with the support of ASI , NTI and the Ministry of Education and Science .
” The Ministry of Economic Development, within the framework of the experimental legal regime mechanism, creates conditions for testing and subsequent scaling of innovative technologies , including unmanned aerial systems . Last year, two such EPRs were launched to deliver goods by drones in five regions . The EPR mechanism is constantly being improved thanks to an open dialogue with business and industry regulators The number of areas in which special regulation can be established is increasing , including for projects ,using solutions based on artificial intelligence and big data . We are ready to quickly launch new EPRs for the use of unmanned aerial systems in accordance with the tasks of the future national project ,” commented Maxim Kolesnikov, Deputy Minister of Economic Development of the Russian Federation .
” Together with the government, in accordance with the instructions of the president, we will organize work in this direction with the involvement of the public , experts , key development organizations , manufacturers of unmanned vehicles , and their involvement in the activities of the working groups of the government commission,” said the head of the project office of ANO “NTI Platform” Alexander Malkov.
The participants of the event discussed the issues of developing the production of the necessary components , the creation of a standardization program and industry-specific digital software products , air logistics systems and a mixed type of UAS operation .
” It is proposed to standardize the UAV type series (unmanned aerial vehicle – approx. ComNews ) for remote sensing of the earth in order to unify the drones used in the most massive production segment for localizing components such as engines , controllers , servos , video cameras, etc. on the territory of the Russian Federation . This will allow enterprises to be profitable , not to be scattered by the production of many similar parts,” said Maxim Shinkevich, director of Finko LLC .
“We have been working on the creation of a line of technological platforms for air mobility for a year and a half . To date, we have already developed aircraft systems with a takeoff weight of 700 kg with a payload of up to 200 kg . Including more than 70% of the structural elements of our own production . By combining the efforts of business , government and science , we we can literally within a few years make available technical solutions that a few years ago seemed possible only in the distant future, ” said the General Director of Transport of the Future LLCYuri Kozarenko .
Andrey Grudev, deputy head of the Geoscan group of companies , noted that it is too early to talk about the amount of financing for the industry. ” It may happen that direct financing of the industry for the development of BAS will not be required, but a “firm order” for several years ahead will be enough. Financing may be needed for related industries for the production of BAS components: electric motors, low-power internal combustion engines, modern batteries , elements of microelectronics, optical sensors, etc. , – he explained. -The main growth point for the mass use of UAS can be agriculture, where after the removal of a couple of major legal barriers, the UAS market could double in a very short time. In general, it is already almost impossible to find an industry in which the use of UAS would be inappropriate and economically untenable.
NTI Aeronet market expert Nikolai Ryashin considers the initiative to be the right one , because the drone industry really needs state support, since the entire commercial services market that could be reached is somehow exhausted by consumer companies and, in general, the aerial photo monitoring segment is also exhausting itself in terms of saturation with both flight facilities and performers.
” Megaprojects such as building a logistics chain, delivery and ground delivery are a big task that can be solved with large investments. It would be more logical to say that business should invest in this, but often companies that are operators and logistics companies do not they want to invest in the development of infrastructure, but they want to use services that are understandable for them tariff scales.And in order to create some kind of infrastructure and achieve the necessary tariff scale for logistics operators, you need to try very hard, develop technologies and service availability at such a level that it was safe and inexpensive. From the point of view of funds, these are quite science-intensive and expensive technologies, the development of which requires billions of rubles, I would say even tens, maybe hundreds . The prospects for the Russian market are great. Especially in terms of logistics, because the territory of the country is large and there are many hard-to-reach areas. Growth points: logistics, urban air mobility and agriculture,” commented Nikolai Ryashin.
Alexey Belyakov , Vice President, Executive Director of the Advanced Manufacturing Technologies Cluster of the Skolkovo Foundation, is sure that the national program should be very large, since the development of BAS involves solving complex problems at the intersection of various issues and disciplines.
” This is both engine building and the direct development of unmanned aerial vehicles. A very important point is related to the development of the payload, since the question is what kind of service these drones will provide. Therefore, we will talk about problems that are at the junction of both microelectronics and engines , and new materials, and IT systems. It will be necessary to solve problems in all these areas and consolidate work, including the efforts of development institutions. The prospects for the Russian market are certainly high – this is due to the peculiarity of our country: long distances, a large number of remote sparsely populated areas . Another thing is that not all directions can be commercially demanded and sustainable. Among the most interesting, I would single out, first of all, agriculture. We are talking about both monitoring agricultural assets and, for example, fertilizing. The second direction is security and monitoring of extended objects. These are pipelines, and power lines, and forests, and some allocated territories that need to be protected. The third direction is related to the delivery of goods. The barrier is to ensure flight safety, since delivery is most in demand in crowded places. To overcome it , together with the Moscow government, we created the Urban Air Mobility Control Center, where we are piloting various scenarios for the use of UAS “, – said Alexey Belyakov.
