The St. Petersburg Scientific and Production enterprise Radar MMC celebrates its 75th anniversary in 2025. The company is one of the leaders in the field of creating radio-electronic systems and complexes for special and civilian purposes, and is also a leading domestic manufacturer of heavy drones for aeronautics and monitoring.
In an interview with TASS, Ivan Antsev, Executive Director of Radar MMS, spoke about the creation of new devices, the pilot operation of a drone port and the prospects for the use of heavy unmanned aircraft systems (UAS).
— Ivan Georgievich, please tell us about the organization's leading projects in the field of UAS.
— First of all, it should be noted the direction that is currently being implemented within the framework of the national project "Unmanned Aircraft Systems". This is the entire spectrum, starting from the base platform of the unmanned aerial vehicle, ending with the target load and ground infrastructure. Therefore, currently, Radar MMS is implementing a number of projects that create aviation equipment, as well as the ground infrastructure itself, which ensures the flight of robotic vehicles.
— In 2024, against the background of sanctions, NPP Radar MMC increased revenue from government orders for civilian products by 30% compared to 2023. Are the sanctions imposed on the company reflected in principle?
— The general sanctions policy directed against our state, including Radar MMS, is, first of all, a very interesting incentive to develop new market niches and the possibility of occupying them. When foreign vendors who supply certain equipment leave, open market niches appear. Of course, Radar MMS has been actively involved in the process of occupying these niches and occupies them to this day, as it has certain competencies in sensor engineering, the creation of complex software products, including those directly aimed at robotics, automation and unmanned aircraft systems.
To be honest, I can't say that we felt strongly about the sanctions imposed, because we've been working the way we are. Some items left the market and had to be replaced. But, again, this is a powerful incentive for import substitution, and this is very important for the Russian economy. A huge amount of equipment of domestic production began to appear in the country. In turn, Radar MMS has created a number of import-substituting technologies in the field of meteorological observation, weather stations and sensors of mining complexes.
A huge number of dual-purpose radio electronic systems and complexes are also entering civilian and market niches. Let's say radar equipment. For example, there is now a need for ice exploration on the Northern Sea Route. These are radars that form a high-resolution radar image and can provide ice exploration on the Northern Sea Route, and this, in turn, is very important for the safety of navigation. The carrier is an unmanned aerial vehicle. In other words, we are talking about a whole family of various interesting technologies that have been reborn into civilian niches, a real need and demand. All this provides economic growth and an incentive for any industrial enterprise to move forward. And most importantly, the country's scientific and technical potential is also moving forward.
— Import substitution is one of the most important tasks now. Has Radar MMS reached full import substitution of components when creating UAVs?
— We do not produce one type of drone, but a family. The use of imported components varies, and there is nothing wrong with that. The key technologies, of course, should be concentrated in our state, but we cannot replace everything absolutely, there is no point in this. We need to find a middle ground. Today, the government is very seriously encouraging developers to create, apply domestic technologies and massively introduce them to the market. Of course, sooner or later we will come to full import substitution, but time must pass, because we need to maintain a balance of quality, cost, reliability of the product and the balance of this independence. Because, if we talk about a drone, the product must be trusted in terms of all the key components that affect flight safety and operation. It turns out to be a dilemma — you need to choose, weigh the pros and cons and follow a neutral path that ensures the quality of the product and the safety of its use.
— Tell us about the flagship products of Radar MMS in the field of creating unmanned aircraft systems.
— In August, at the International Forum "Unmanned Systems. Technologies of the Future" in Moscow, we presented our solution in the field of heavy drones — a helicopter with a take-off weight of 500 kg. The device can carry a target load of over 100 kg over distances of up to 400 km. A light unmanned vehicle with a take-off weight of 30 kg and a drone port was also presented. This is a fully autonomous automated system that can perform, say, monitoring tasks 24/7. A route assignment with a functional task is loaded for a week or, for example, for a month. The drone takes off and continues along the route, completes the task, returns to the drone port, where it automatically charges, resets data from the payload, and then starts working again.
Such a device does not need an operator, it does not need a pilot, because the system operates completely autonomously. It handles all emergency situations, monitors the internal state, and has a predictive analytics system built into the device. For example, if there is a complete system failure, a parachute is released and the drone descends to the ground. There is no threat to people or ground infrastructure. Of course, approaches to the software and technological features of these robots in terms of certification and system reliability still need to be formed. Then the regulatory framework will change and follow the path of simplification.
— How is the process of creating a promising vehicle with a take-off weight of up to 550 kg, which was reported during the SPIEF?
— As part of the national project, we are conducting end-to-end R&D, which includes not only the creation of a new aircraft with a take-off weight of 550 kg and its certification, but also the creation of a robotic infrastructure. All this is designed to minimize the human factor and optimize costs — the cost of flight hours and cargo transportation. This infrastructure also includes ground-based robots that automatically pick up goods from the warehouse and load them onto a drone. Next, the device refuels with the help of the same robot and automatically takes off on assignment. In other words, all operations are performed by robots, and the operator sits in the control center and monitors how these processes are going.
We plan to create and scale such logistics hubs in remote regions of Russia. Of course, in such a logistics hub there should be several drones that perform flight delivery tasks to different cities and different areas. Thus, the cost of delivering a kilogram-kilometer of cargo will be significantly cheaper.
If we take a classic drone today, then its maintenance requires two or three representatives of the maintenance staff - a technician, a pilot and a conditional logistician. The cost of a kilogram-kilometer ranges from 10 to 15 rubles. That's a pretty high price. And the market needs the cost to reach 5-6 rubles. We are striving for this, and I am sure everything will work out. There are very tight deadlines for this end-to-end R&D, so we are interested in implementing products as quickly as possible, introducing them to the market and, consequently, scaling up. According to the plans, we should already carry out all the necessary tests and certifications by the end of 2026.
There is a whole range of work here, because as part of end—to-end R&D, not only the aircraft and ground infrastructure are being created, but also the key components of the drone - from the power plant to the rescue system, which ensures a safe landing for a heavy helicopter drone in case of any failure. We have already conducted a number of tests. As part of the project, we will have to create and adapt a rescue system for a heavy unmanned aerial vehicle.
— For what tasks is it planned to use a promising device?
— The drone is in the active phase of developing and manufacturing its components. This is a very promising device, as it closes certain market niches that we have considered from the point of view of various potential consumers and players in this market. The drone can cover not only aerological issues, but also the tasks of monitoring various extended objects, such as gas or oil pipes. There is such a need today, since these are extensive facilities, the length of the pipes is thousands of kilometers. It is necessary to ensure their round-the-clock monitoring to detect, for example, leaks of methane or fuel. An oil spill is an environmental disaster, and the sooner the leak is prevented, the fewer the consequences. In addition to using built-in pipe monitoring systems, such drones can seriously minimize risks.
— Is there already an understanding on the territory of which region of the Russian Federation the new heavy vehicle and robotic infrastructure will be tested?
— I believe we will work out where we are currently actively working with our customers, these are the Yamalo—Nenets and Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrugs. Radar MMS is also active in the cluster in the Tomsk region, where there are also a huge number of tasks. I am confident that we will develop and scale our system in these regions. In addition, we are actively working today with the State Transport Leasing Company (JSC "GTLK"), the operating companies that operate our unmanned aerial vehicles. According to our programs, Radar MMS specialists train their personnel — pilots for heavy unmanned aircraft systems. Of course, this is already a kind of scaling.
In fact, Russia is currently the leader among countries operating heavy unmanned aircraft systems, and Radar MMS is currently the only one in Russia that, together with the MAI Training Center, trains civilian external pilots of heavy UAS.
— Earlier this year, the Radar MMC drone port was put into trial operation at one of the specialized sites in St. Petersburg. What are the interim results of this work?
— Trial operation has shown that such systems have the right to life, since autonomous systems minimize the risks of the human factor and increase economic efficiency. We have been working on the drone port in terms of performing a monitoring task. The drone has been in trial operation 24/7 for two weeks. According to a specific flight mission program, the device took off several times a day every day, flew into certain squares, made appropriate measurements using lidar, formed a three-dimensional scale model of the terrain, and so on.
Our task was to work out the reliability of all systems, taking into account rain, wind, flying and non-flying weather. It was necessary to see how well the system reacts: allows or does not allow takeoff, provides takeoff or does not provide. The reliability of the mechanical elements was also assessed, since movable structures are involved. All this requires resistance to external factors and various weather conditions. I believe that we have successfully coped and continue to move in this direction. Drone ports are very useful not only for monitoring tasks, but can also be effectively used in aeronautics. And companies such as Ozon, Wildberries, Yandex.Market and Megamarket, of course, will come to this.
Logistical challenges will develop especially in the hard—to-reach regions of Russia, both between logistics hubs and in certain areas. In fact, it will be a delivery almost to the house, to the apartment. There will be drone ports in the districts where drones will fly in and deliver orders. Just like now, people come to a certain area, enter a PIN code and pick up their parcel. We will definitely come to the use of such logistics mini-hubs. It's a matter of time, creating a regulatory framework, and most importantly, a reliable, secure autonomous system.
I emphasize that such a system should be fully autonomous and take into account all possible emergency situations, only then it can be put into operation. Such a system will never be able to work with operators, because when scaling a task, we simply won't have enough of these operators. They cannot be compared to today's couriers. Delivery should be as cheap and secure as possible. Everything takes time, but I am sure that Russia will definitely come to this stage of development. The country has all the groundwork for this. We need to move forward and not stop there.
In recent years, a huge number of unmanned aircraft systems have been created. They need to be scaled, tested and implemented in the real sector of the economy. This is a road towards each other on the one hand from the producer, and on the other hand from the consumer. And it is precisely the state that acts as a kind of regulator in this scheme, which motivates us, producers, and on the other hand, stimulates consumers. Government assistance in this role is very important both from the point of view of the regulatory framework and from the point of view of various economic instruments — subsidizing flight hours, preferential leasing or other mechanisms. All this is very important in the development of the industry.
