The Russian government has approved the Concept for the integration of unmanned aerial vehicles into a single airspace, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said at a meeting with Deputy Prime Ministers. A copy of the document was published on the government website.
The program is divided into three stages: organizational (to be carried out until 2023), technological (until 2027) and digital (until 2030). At the first stage, services for electronic registration, accounting and electronic identification of unmanned aerial vehicles will be introduced, as well as rules for the preparation and execution of flights will be developed.
At the second stage, it is planned to develop and introduce new technologies that will make flights safe, as well as create the necessary infrastructure for communications, navigation and aeronautical surveillance (including digital radio links and satellite technologies). In parallel with the technical preparation, legislative work will go on to approve the requirements for new systems and equipment. At the same stage, test flights will be launched in a single airspace.
At the last stage, it is planned to introduce digital technologies for servicing the air traffic of unmanned aerial vehicles, as well as to adopt regulatory legal and technical acts in order to complete their safe integration into the unified airspace of the Russian Federation.
The government is confident that the development of unmanned aircraft will open up new opportunities, including allowing them to be used for express delivery, small cargo transportation and e-commerce, pest control in agriculture, monitoring the risk of forest fires and other dangerous situations.
Currently, more than 45,000 drones weighing less than 30 kg are registered in Russia. In the third quarter of this year alone, the Federal Air Transport Agency registered 5500 such devices. In total, about 8000 applications for registration were submitted during this period.
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