Drones have been used extensively by Russia and Ukraine since the conflict between the two countries began in February 2022, and both sides have been ramping up military production as the fighting drags on.
A Russian drone model. Photo: Sputnik
“The annual production of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs)… is planned to be 32,500 units. This is almost three times higher than the current production volume,” Mr. Belousov said. At the same time, according to the plan, Russia’s UAV market share will account for 70% of the market for this type of UAV.
Russia has been using the cheap Iranian-made Shahed drone, known in Ukraine for its noisy gasoline engine. Mr Belousov said Russia would fund the national drone project with 696 billion rubles ($7.66 billion) by 2030 and would announce more details this month.
Last year, President Vladimir Putin said that UAVs could be used in almost all industries, not just the military.
Russian drones initially confused Ukrainian air defenses because they were harder to detect than missiles, while shooting down cheap drones with expensive missiles was not very costly.
Meanwhile, Ukraine has made extensive use of FPV drones — small drones originally intended for personal civilian use but modified for battlefield use — as a cheap but effective option for reconnaissance and attack.
Ukraine said in December that it planned to produce more than 11,000 medium- and long-range attack drones by 2024, as well as one million FPV drones, which are in widespread demand on the front lines.
Hoang Anh (according to TASS, Reuters)
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