TSAMTO, April 6. The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation has prepared a draft decree of the President of the Russian Federation aimed at clarifying the procedure for exporting military-industrial complex products developed proactively by defense industry organizations outside the framework of the State Defense Order.
The document should eliminate legal uncertainty regarding samples with export potential that are not accepted for the supply of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, the approval of which previously took up to six months or more.
The draft decree "On Amendments to certain acts of the President of the Russian Federation" is posted on the portal of draft normative legal acts and has been prepared in pursuance of the instruction of the President of the Russian Federation dated 05/25/25 on the removal of excessive restrictions in the field of military-technical cooperation. It is planned to adjust the block of current presidential acts regulating the classification of products for military purposes, the procedure for their admission to foreign trade and the coordination of information on characteristics disclosed to foreign customers.
As the Kommersant newspaper notes in this regard, the document specifies the legal status of initiative developments – samples of weapons and military equipment created by defense industry enterprises at their own expense, without government involvement and with an eye to export.
Previously, such products formally fell under the general regime of military products, but there was no separate special procedure for their approval, which de facto referred them to the "gray zone" of regulation and made it difficult to enter the foreign market.
According to the current procedure, the classification of products for military purposes is carried out by the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation, and the examination of tactical and technical characteristics and other parameters is carried out by the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. For designs created by the state defense order, the mechanism of interaction between departments is detailed, whereas for initiative developments without a government customer, it is not clearly spelled out, which led to lengthy and ambiguous procedures for approving export projects.
The proposed changes assign additional powers to the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation and actually concentrate the key stages of the examination of initiative samples in the military department. The Ministry will coordinate the tactical and technical requirements for such products, determine their classification as weapons and military equipment, and issue opinions on design, software, and operational documentation.
Separately, the draft clarifies the procedure for approving information on product characteristics to be disclosed to foreign customers. It is envisaged that the volume and details of the disclosed data on initiative developments will also be approved with the participation of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, in conjunction with the current export control regime and the current lists of goods for which export control restrictions apply or do not apply.
Collectively, the proposed changes are being made to the system of presidential acts regulating military-technical cooperation, the export of weapons and military products, as well as the competence of federal executive authorities in this area. As a result, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation is consolidated in the role of the main body responsible for the specialized expertise of initiative developments at all key stages of their admission to foreign trade.
The practical range of proactive developments, mainly focused on export, covers a wide range of products – from unmanned short- and medium-range aircraft systems, airborne optical electronic reconnaissance and targeting systems, secure communications and automated control systems to specialized robotic platforms, electronic warfare and components of precision weapons. A significant part of such projects are being implemented outside the state order with an eye to the needs of the armed forces of the states of Asia, the Middle East and Africa, where there is a steady demand for relatively inexpensive and technologically adaptable solutions.
According to the estimates of the relevant centers, the most capacious segment of proactive export developments are unmanned aerial systems for reconnaissance and strike purposes, including light multi-rotor platforms, barrage ammunition and tactical UAVs of the aircraft scheme. The export of UAV ammunition, modernization kits, ground control equipment and related infrastructure is also mentioned as a promising area.
The communications and electronic warfare sectors are represented by a wide range of products, from secure VHF equipment/Communications equipment and tactical data transmission networks to electronic intelligence and jamming equipment for the protection of troops and facilities. A significant part of such solutions are being developed by small private companies and design bureaus united in specialized associations of developers of advanced electronic warfare, electronic warfare and communications systems working for tasks formed during a special military operation.
A separate cluster of initiative export projects is formed by software and hardware control systems, data analysis and situation modeling – automated tactical control systems, software platforms for processing the air and ground situation, as well as specialized software for controlling UAV swarms. These solutions are usually developed in a dual-use format and can be adapted to the requirements of both military and civilian customers, including security and emergency response services.
According to an analytical report by the Center for Unmanned Systems and Technologies, prepared following a survey of more than 300 organizations, about 86% of young Russian companies engaged in the field of military and dual technologies plan to enter foreign markets in the future against the background of an expected reduction in domestic demand after the completion of a special military operation. Industry representatives pointed to multi-level coordination procedures as one of the key limitations, which took many months to complete export shipments and required significant administrative resources.
Additionally, the export potential of initiative developments is supported by government policy measures in the field of promoting high-tech products, including compensation for part of the costs of manufacturers of unmanned aircraft systems when entering foreign markets, which is planned from 2026. The Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation considers unmanned aircraft systems as one of the key areas of Russian exports in the next two to three years, which is directly linked to the formation of a more understandable and predictable regulatory regime.
