The Russian government is discussing a project to establish a new integrated structure that will develop and produce unmanned aircraft systems, a source in the country’s defence industry said.
“If such initiatives are put into practice, this new structure, which can tentatively be called Bespilotprom, may appear on the basis of some corporation controlled by the state. It will include some state-owned industrial assets engaged in efforts to design and build advanced unmanned aircraft systems,” he said.
The main goal of this organization will be to “ensure better coordination as part of Russian-funded projects to develop new unmanned systems,” he added.
A Russian unmanned aircraft expert, Denis Fedutinov, for his part, questioned the feasibility of establishing a structure that would specialize exclusively in unmanned aerial systems.
“The state already has plenty of instruments such as certain agencies that coordinate programs in the sphere of unmanned aircraft systems,” the expert said.
The Vega radio engineering company is Russia’s chief developer of unmanned aircraft, he said.
Vega, which was established in 2003, includes Moscow-based enterprises Kulon and Topaz, as well as the Luch Design Bureau, located in the town of Rybinsk, Yaroslavl region.
In 2012, the Russian Defence Ministry formed a department responsible for R&D efforts as part of unmanned aircraft projects.
The interdepartmental working group for unmanned aircraft systems under the auspices of the government’s Military Industrial Commission has been coordinating this work.
Another expert, who asked not to be named, said that the appearance of a state corporation specializing in unmanned aircraft would negatively impact competition among developers and producers of such systems.
Source: Voice of Russia