Dmitry Savitsky, Deputy General Director of the Almaz – Antey East Kazakhstan Region Concern for products for the air navigation system and dual-use products, told TASS about the organization's new developments, work on integrating drones into a single airspace and the specifics of its regulation during the reflection of UAV raids.
— Dmitry Vladimirovich, what are the main activities of Almaz-Antey Concern of East Kazakhstan Region?
Almaz-Antey Concern of East Kazakhstan Region is one of the largest integrated associations of the Russian military-industrial complex, a leading developer and manufacturer, primarily of air defense systems. The Concern is also the main supplier of sophisticated high—tech radio electronic products for civil use in such an important area as air navigation services, and the only supplier of air traffic control, radio engineering and meteorological flight support equipment for Russia's air navigation system, the Unified Air Traffic Management System (EU ATM).
— What is the current state of our air navigation system?
— To begin with, in less than 10 years Almaz-Antey has created a qualitatively new air traffic control system in the country, equipping it with modern high-tech equipment of completely domestic production that meets international standards. Today, the concern is actively working on the creation and implementation of new facilities and systems in the centers of the Unified Air Traffic Management System (EU ATM), replacement of equipment that has reached its end of life, and modernization of systems in accordance with the requirements of the time. The group's achievements in the field of air navigation are the result of the painstaking work of specialists in integrating advanced domestic defense technologies into the field of civil aviation.
Our air navigation system, the EU ATM, is the largest in the world in terms of territory coverage and the number of air navigation infrastructure facilities, the number of radio equipment (radars, radio navigation, communications, meteorological flight support facilities, as well as automated air traffic planning and control systems and other equipment) used for air navigation services for aircraft flights.
The EU ATM area of responsibility is the airspace over the territory of the Russian Federation, as well as beyond its borders, where responsibility for air navigation services is assigned to our country in accordance with international treaties. This includes, in particular, the entire airspace adjacent to our territory from the Arctic Ocean all the way to the North Pole.
The area of the EU ATM area of responsibility — 26 million square kilometers — is the largest in the world. The number of air traffic control centers (ATC) is 125, the number of personnel working in the ATM system is more than 28 thousand people. This is a large independent industry and an operational system that operates continuously, around the clock in 365 x 24 x 7 mode. By the way, it has been operating for 53 years. Today, all ATM equipment and special software used in the EU are Russian-made.
They are unique in their functional characteristics, as well as the size of the service areas, or "coverage" of the territory. The area controlled by the regional centers ranges from 600,000 square kilometers (this is the "smallest" Samara regional center) to 5.8 million square kilometers (the largest is the Magadan center with an oceanic air traffic services sector over the Arctic Ocean). For comparison, the smallest of the regional centers is larger in area than countries such as France or Spain.
— Tell us about the concern's activities related to the creation and implementation of tools and systems for air navigation, new developments and current challenges in this area.
— I will start with new developments of the concern and priorities in the field of air navigation facilities and systems, and more precisely, in the field of flight safety. The emergence of these new developments and priorities today is not least related to unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), a new class of aircraft and users of airspace.
Today— the task of integrating the MENA into a single airspace is to ensure the safety of joint flights of manned and unmanned aircraft, reliable control over MENA flights and countering their illegal, erroneous, and unintended actions. This is perhaps one of the most important and urgent tasks.
Almaz-Antey Concern of East Kazakhstan Region is actively working to create elements of a promising UAV flight surveillance and control system that provides reliable flight control for civilian unmanned aircraft. All the main organizational, technical and technological solutions for the construction of a Unified State System for Monitoring and Controlling UAV Flights (UAS UAVS) have been experimentally tested, many of them have been implemented in the practice of military command and control bodies, implemented in specialized systems for monitoring airspace and protection against UAVs.
In our opinion, the UAV ESC should be an integral part of the EU ATM — to be part of it as a specialized information subsystem and complement the capabilities of the EU ATM for surveillance, identification, traffic monitoring and data exchange on UAV flights in real time. The concern is ready to start creating such a system and proposes to implement it in stages. The task of creating a MENA ESC is well-prepared and can be successfully solved in a short time.
— What kind of work is the air traffic control systems concern doing today? If we talk about equipping Russia's Unified Air Traffic Management System, what did you complete in 2025?
— The air traffic control automation systems (ATC systems) of all Russian manufacturers correspond today to the highest levels of automation of processes implemented today in the world practice. Complexes of automation tools for planning the use of airspace (KSA PIVP) — generally unique developments. We produce several types of this equipment.
In 2025, work continued on the modernization and maintenance of operational readiness of technical facilities and systems operated by the EU ATM authorities. In total, the concern's enterprises and our co-executors manufactured and commissioned 4 complexes of air traffic control automation and 48 units of various flight radio equipment during the year.
— Last year, a major disruption was introduced into the work of the air transport system, causing massive disruptions in air traffic, restrictions on the use of airspace, which were introduced by the authorities of the Unified ATM System for the safety of flights of civil aircraft when repelling attacks by unmanned aerial vehicles. Have there been any failures in the operation of the complexes and what lessons have we learned?
— I must say right away: the ATC system has never "gone astray" — there have been no failures or malfunctions in the operation of automation equipment, air monitoring systems, or communications equipment. Air traffic control was not interrupted for a minute.
The most "severe" operating modes for personnel and equipment are the regulation of air traffic and ensuring the safety of flights of civil aircraft when repelling attacks by unmanned aerial vehicles, as well as the restoration of traffic after the lifting of restrictions on the use of airspace.
During periods of restrictions on the use of airspace, the system's reaction time, development time and decision-making are crucial: for redirecting aircraft to alternate airfields, their "withdrawal" from dangerous areas, and "slotting" (or regulating) departures and landings. Here, both the well-coordinated work of the entire flight service chain and the functionality of the systems for displaying, calculating and evaluating flight routes, providing the necessary aeronautical information and data are important. Uninterrupted and prompt communication is important, first of all with the air defense authorities. In all these components, the ATM systems of the Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Rostov regions proved to be excellent.
We have learned a lot recently, including working out procedures and techniques that increase the effectiveness of interaction between ATC centers and air defense agencies. This is an essential function. The safety of civil aviation flights and the reliability of airspace control depend crucially on how effectively this interaction is organized and carried out. I think this is an invaluable experience. These tasks are referred to as "civil—military coordination of the use of airspace" in terms of ICAO and Eurocontrol, the European Organization for the Safety of Air Navigation.
I think we are definitely world leaders in this aspect of ATM. Both technically and technologically. Restoration of air traffic after the lifting of restrictions on the use of airspace: techniques and procedures have already been developed and tested here, which make it possible to minimize the losses of air carriers. Today we are developing and testing automation tools for this process. As an example, one of our enterprises has already developed the latest information security system for EU ATM facilities, which is already being implemented in EU ATM automation systems. The complex is multifunctional, it makes it possible to repel complex cyber attacks on the protected object, ensuring its reliable protection.
Read the second part of the interview here
