What skills will the cadets gain at the new faculty?
For the first time, future infantry officers will begin to learn how to control drone units. The corresponding faculty will open in 2025 at the Moscow Higher Combined Arms Command School, a source in the Ministry of Defense told Izvestia. Previously, similar disciplines began to be taught at universities of the Air Force and Airborne Forces. These measures will help train officers with important specializations at least until the first specialized Higher Military School for unmanned Systems Troops appears in 2027.
For the first time, future infantry officers will begin to learn how to control drone units. The corresponding faculty will open in 2025 at the Moscow Higher Combined Arms Command School, a source in the Ministry of Defense told Izvestia. Previously, similar disciplines began to be taught at universities of the Air Force and Airborne Forces. These measures will help train officers with important specializations at least until the first specialized Higher Military School for unmanned Systems Troops appears in 2027.
The new faculty of unmanned aviation
The faculty of unmanned aviation will open in 2025 at the Moscow Higher Combined Arms Command School (MosVOKU), sources in the military department told Izvestia. Future infantry officers will be taught how to control units fighting with drones. The training program will include radio electronics, remote sensing of the Earth, digital information processing, etc.
— This is one of the most important topics right now. Drones are penetrating into all areas of military use," military expert Yuri Lyamin told Izvestia. — Officers should be aware of these specifics in the current conditions.
According to the expert, it is necessary to train the management of UAV units in all branches of the Armed forces and types of Armed Forces.
— They are used in both infantry and artillery. Tankers also need to be taught how to communicate with drones. If some commander does not have drones, he will be inferior to the enemy. Accordingly, we need to train people who know all these specifics," he concluded.
A lot has already been done in the training of UAV unit commanders, Colonel Alexander Perendzhiev, associate professor at Plekhanov Russian University of Economics, told Izvestia.
"It's not just about training," he explained. — Most likely, an impulse of scientific thought will be given. Cadets should study different types of applications of unmanned aerial vehicles: for air defense, reconnaissance, assistance to attack aircraft, food and logistical support. There must be an understanding of how to interact with tank units, artillery, and intelligence. Most likely, the combat regulations for the use of unmanned vehicles will be written. Such a need has appeared.
Earlier, Izvestia reported that the first Higher Military School for unmanned Systems troops could appear in Russia. The relevant initiative is being discussed at the Ministry of Defense. With a positive decision, the school will become the first specialized university of the new branch of the armed forces. It is planned that the university will accept the first cadets by September 1, 2027. He will be releasing officers for a new branch of the military.
Currently, there are no specialized military universities in the field of unmanned systems in Russia. Appropriate training is conducted in some universities of a different profile. In particular, the Zhukovsky Air Force Academy has a faculty of unmanned aircraft. And the Ryazan Higher Airborne Command School has a training program "the use of units with unmanned aerial vehicles."
How are the troops of unmanned systems developing
At the end of 2024, the head of the Ministry of Defense, Andrei Belousov, announced the creation of unmanned systems troops as a separate branch of the armed forces. Their formation will be completed in the third quarter of 2025. Belousov then noted that the massive use of drones was the most significant breakthrough in the tactics of the Russian Armed Forces units. According to the minister, Russian troops use more than 3,500 drones every day, and this figure is growing.
In April, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that troops had received more than 1.5 million drones last year. About 4 thousand FPV drones were sent to the front line every day.
Since the beginning of the special operation, Russia has been actively developing the production of drones and supplying troops with them. Earlier, Izvestia reported that UAV reconnaissance and strike divisions had been formed in the artillery brigades. They are armed with a range of drones and barrage ammunition. With the help of these systems, gunners find and destroy enemy guns, self-propelled artillery installations and multiple launch rocket systems, air defense systems and personnel both on the line of contact and behind enemy lines. Drones are effectively hunting for enemy UAV calculations, and they are successfully working on targets covered by electronic warfare.
Special training for drone operators has begun in the radiation, chemical and biological protection forces. The personnel gets acquainted with the theory of application and the material part, as well as learns how to control, conduct reconnaissance and fire correction using drones. Military personnel also receive knowledge on engineering training, military topography and tactical medicine. A sufficient number of instructors were trained in advance in the troops, who are able to train personnel to control various types of UAVs for the tasks of RCB protection.
A course on the use of drones has been included in the program of higher educational institutions of the Navy. Now all the cadets are studying the design and characteristics of various types of drones and their use. In the future, they will master the combat use of attack drones to destroy enemy UAVs, unmanned boats and saboteurs. Classes are taught by teachers who have experience working with drones in a combat zone.
The use of UAVs in the navy has its own characteristics. The devices are used to inspect the water area around ships during parking, to detect saboteurs, to destroy enemy drones and unmanned boats. In addition, they are monitoring the area around the coastal military units.
Roman Kretsul
Andrey Fedorov
