The Nenets Autonomous Okrug has begun preparing infrastructure for the development of unmanned aircraft systems services

2023: Beginning of infrastructure preparation for development of unmanned aircraft systems services

The administration of the Nenets Autonomous Okrug, together with Ecolibri and the T1 holding, within the framework of the previously signed agreement, began preparing infrastructure for the provision of logistics services using unmanned aircraft systems (ALS) in order to subsequently disseminate experience to other regions of the Russian Federation. This was announced on May 4, 2023 by the T1 holding.

At a meeting on May 2, 2023 with the leadership of the Administration of the Nenets Autonomous Okrug, a meeting of specialists from the T1 holding and the Ecolibri company with representatives of relevant departments of the region took place. The meeting participants discussed significant prospects for air delivery to the NAO.

The territory of the region is characterized by a complex relief, and a significant number of small inhabited points and an underdeveloped road network make the use of unmanned technologies indispensable. Their use will provide a multiple increase in the availability of classic services for citizens. The region is the most sparsely populated, but one of the largest in terms of area, which allows you to work out a logical turnkey service for subsequent replication to other entities. The variety of the landscape will allow the companies participating in the project to work out routes of various levels of complexity.

The processes and algorithms for transporting small-sized - up to 25 kg - cargoes by unmanned aircraft systems will be worked out in the region. Near Naryan-Mar, an area was allocated for an airfield for the project, where a single logistics center will be created. The settlements that will be the first to participate in the test program were also identified: the village of Nelmin-Nos, the village of Toshviska, the village of Indiga, the island of Kolguev in the Arctic Ocean and the Varandey airport on the Arctic coast of the Nenets Autonomous Okrug. Routes to them will be worked out over the next 6 months, while the delivery time will not exceed 5 hours.

Following the meeting, it was decided to create a working group for operational interaction. After the event, participants visited and examined the territory of the basing airfield allocated by the region, as well as one of the settlements participating in the program.