Unmanned Aircraft Systems (ALS)

History

2023: Air Cargo Launch

The company "BAS" launched in Russia cargo air transportation by drones. For this, cooperation with GLONASS JSC was launched within the framework of the agreement concluded in mid-September 2023.

It is expected that the cooperation of the young company Unmanned Aviation Systems with Glonass as a whole will accelerate the digital transformation of the transport sector in Russia. In addition to air travel, ALS drones can, in particular, be used  in monitoring work or for aerial photography.

The company "BAS" launched in Russia cargo air transportation by drones

 Alexey Varyatchenko, General Director of BAS LLC, noted that the development of communication and surveillance infrastructure is a prerequisite for the widespread introduction of services and services created using unmanned aircraft systems. In addition, Glonass JSC , as an independent cross-platform player with the existing infrastructure, is the optimal partner for the implementation of such important projects for the domestic "drone," he said.

The first commercial controlled drone flights are already underway. Experts are also working to ensure that drones can do without a hundredth of communication. This will be especially important in working conditions in the Arctic or in the Far East.

After their introduction into the national airspace of the Russian Federation , all ALS flights will be coordinated with air navigation service operators   and with local authorities. Subsequently, this will make it possible to "open the sky" for drones, that is, to lift the current bans on the use of drones in the constituent entities of the Russian Federation.

In addition, by mid-September 2023 , BAS is already thinking about offering franchise services. As a national operator of unmanned aircraft, ALS can open its own branches in the Russian regions for this purpose.

 The company  plans to increase its own fleet of drones to almost two hundred by the end of this year.  And by the beginning of 2027 , the operator's fleet will already consist of four hundred aircraft.

2022: Official announcement of the formation of the company

On June 16, 2022 , the State Transport Leasing Company (GTLK) and the National Technology Initiative Project Support Fund (NTI) signed an agreement on the creation of a new company that will provide services for aerial photography and monitoring of facilities, as well as for the transportation of goods by unmanned aircraft.

The joint venture was named Unmanned Aircraft Systems (ALS). It was created on a parity basis (50% of the shares will belong to GTLK and the NTI fund). The first commercial flights of drones under the control of ALS are scheduled to take place in 2023.

A state-owned company is being created in Russia to provide drone transportation services

The number of drones that will operate ALS, and from which manufacturer they will be purchased, is not reported by June 16, 2022. Interfax recalls that among the largest Russian drone manufacturers are the Kronstadt group, ZALA Aero, the Ural Civil Aviation Plant and the Special Technological Center.

According to the general director of GTLK Evgeny Dietrich, the creation of the joint venture will be preceded by "painstaking work on the formation and improvement of a specialized regulatory framework." By June 16, 2022, unmanned aircraft systems can perform flights only as part of tests under specially approved programs of the experimental legal regime (EPR).

At the end of March 2022, the Government of the Russian Federation approved EPR programs for the Kamchatka Territory, the Khanty-Mansiysk, Chukotka and Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Districts, as well as for the Tomsk Region. By mid-June 2022, only Russian Post announced the launch of EPR tests among commercial structures: the company plans to launch an air delivery of cargo on drones by the end of this year.^[1]

2020: ANO Creation Plan

In November 2020, it became known that a single customer for drones and an infrastructure operator for their management may appear in Russia. It will be created by NTI Aeronet for 24 billion for the next three years. This is stated in the explanatory note "Aeronet."

The new company will be in the form of ANO Russian Unmanned Aircraft Systems, its founders will be Russian Post, United Aircraft Corporation, Rosatomflot, Rosneft and Rosgeologia.

At the same time, PJSC "State Transport Leasing Company" will purchase drones, and then lease the new structure. Aeronet expects that from 2022 the volume of demand for unmanned air transportation services will amount to about 15 billion rubles.

Notes