Drones will work as postmen in remote areas of Ugra

2022: Pilot project on the use of UAVs to deliver cargo in remote areas of Ugra

Drones will work as postmen in remote areas of Ugra. This was announced on April 13, 2022 by the Department of Information Technology of Ugra.

In 2022, the district became one of the four pilot territories where the project for the delivery of cargo by unmanned air started. transport

In Ugra, Yamal, in the Kamchatka Territory and the Chukotka District, the Russian Government established an experimental legal regime for the next three years. Russian Post will become an operator who has to create and operate ground infrastructure, coordinate the interaction of customers and service providers, and also allow drone operators to work.

The experiment will allow you to deliver mail to remote settlements all year round, improve the quality of delivery, reduce its time and cost, and also create new high-tech jobs.

As of April 2022, mail and cargo to hard-to-reach villages are delivered seasonally. Small mail cargoes up to 100 kg are familiar transport: helicopters, ships and cars are unprofitable to send there. And in the offseason, this can only be done by helicopters, which is quite expensive.

At the initial stage of the pilot project, trial routes were selected: Priobye (Sergino) -Andra and Priobye (Sergino) -Oktyabrskoye, as well as a list of routes in Berezovsky , Khanty-Mansiysk and Oktyabrsky districts, where such a service is needed.

According to experts, this mode of transport has a perspective in other areas. Drones will be in demand in aerial photography for monitoring natural phenomena, inspecting pipelines and other infrastructure, in case of fires and natural disasters.

2021: Agreement on the use of UAVs for cargo delivery

On July 20, 2021, Rostec and Russian Post entered into an agreement on the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug. Andrei Boginsky, General Director of Russian Helicopters, and Maxim Akimov, General Director of the Russian Post, put their signatures on the document . Drones will be used to deliver parcels.

Until the end of 2021, flights of courier drones will be organized along the Anadyr-Ugolny Kopi route in Chukotka. In the future, it is planned to launch UAVs on 20 routes and deliver up to 245 tons of mail per year using them. Unmanned delivery by the Russian Post will be carried out along 48 routes in four regions - the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, the Kamchatka Territory, the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug and the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug. The project will use the regulatory mechanism provided for by the Federal Law "On Experimental Legal Regimes in the Field of Digital Innovation in the Russian Federation."

Russian Post launches delivery of parcels up to 70 kg on UAVs in Chukotka

Cargo will be delivered by BAS-200 and VRT300 drones developed by Russian Helicopters (part of Rostec).

The BAS-200 helicopter type drone can reach speeds of up to 160 km/h and carry cargo weighing up to 50 kg. The maximum take-off weight is 200 kilograms. The practical ceiling of the BAS-200 is 3900 m, and the flight duration is up to 4 hours. The ground control system provides communication with the drone at a distance of up to 100 km. BAS-200 can be used for terrain monitoring, cargo delivery, search and rescue and agricultural work. The development of the BAS-200 project is being carried out by the National Helicopter Center "Miles and Kamov."

The VRT300 - an unmanned helicopter-type aircraft system - allows you to carry a payload of 70 kg and reach speeds of up to 130 km/h, flying up to 325 km. The maximum take-off weight is up to 380 kg. The practical flight is 5800 m a, the maximum duration of the flight reaches 5 hours. UAVs can be used to monitor the terrain, deliver cargo, measures to protect forests, search and rescue people, and the needs of agriculture. VRT300 - development of the BP-Technologies company of the Russian Helicopters holding.

I am sure that this project will create a reliable base for the further introduction of unmanned technologies into postal services, which is especially relevant for Russians living in remote and inaccessible areas of our large country. If the experience of the pilot project is successful, we will be ready to conclude the first contract for the transportation of goods using UAVs next year and in the future we will be able to scale this experience to other regions, "said Andrei Boginsky, General Director of Russian Helicopters.[1]

In Russia, a huge number of hard-to-reach regions, where unmanned aircraft will be able to halve the delivery time on average. According to our estimates, the Aerotaxi project on the use of UAVs in the future will also increase cargo flow by 11 times and at the same time reduce the cost of logistics services by 1.81 times, "said Maxim Akimov.

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