As reported by the newspaper "Kommersant" in the material Yuri Litvinenko and Nikita Korolev "Who is in the forest, who is on the drone. There is a shortage of commercial drones in Russia," prices for commercial unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in Russia have increased by more than 30% in recent months, and tripled in some categories. This was reported to Kommersant by market participants. This is due both to the suspension of sales of Chinese DJI drones in the Russian Federation, and, according to military experts, to private purchases for the needs of the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics (DPR and LPR). At the same time, drones that are sold at retail are suitable only for video shooting, Russian retailers emphasize.
A set of commercial unmanned aerial vehicle-quadrocopter DJI Mavic 2 Enterprise Dual, purchased by volunteers for the DPR forces (c) Telegram channel "Turned on Z war"
Kommersant interviewed UAV market participants about their availability in Russia and price dynamics. On average, the cost of UAVs since February, when the Russian Federation began military operations in Ukraine, has increased similarly to the prices of electronics - by 30% or more, a source told Kommersant in a large marketplace. He also talks about the shortage, linking the situation with the decision of the Chinese DJI, which occupies 90% of the market for "consumer" drones, to stop deliveries to Russia: "Judging by the market, demand has grown and bought everything that is." In March, average dollar prices for UAVs increased by 47% by March 2021, a source of Kommersant in one of the retailers added.
After DJI stopped shipping, the prices of enterprise-segment drones (for the oil and gas and energy industries, search and rescue operations, etc.) in Russia tripled - both in comparison with the old ones, and, for example, relative to the cost in the UAE, taking into account the exchange rate difference, says Nikolay Ryashin, CEO of the developer of Hive drone ports: "What used to cost about 1 million rubles, is now being sold for more than 3 million rubles."
He noted that the structure of brands and assortment in the drone market in Russia has not changed yet.
By the end of the year, according to Mr. Ryashin, we can expect problems related to the exhaustion of the battery life: "There are difficulties with them - sea and land logistics are experiencing problems, and it is impossible to transport high-capacity batteries by plane." Sbermegamarket, M.Video and Yandex.Market declined to comment. Avito, Yule, Citylink, and the Ministry of Industry and Trade did not respond to Kommersant.
DJI announced the suspension of sales of its drones in Russia and Ukraine in April: according to the company, in order to exclude their use in combat operations. The decision was made a month after Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine Mikhail Fedorov accused the manufacturer of giving Russia access to the data of the AeroScope drone location system. DJI denied Kiev's accusations, but after the suspension of operations in the Russian Federation confirmed to The Verge that drones transmit AeroScope data in unencrypted form.
Private initiatives to purchase supplies for the DPR and LPR contributed to the shortage of copters, according to Ruslan Pukhov, director of the Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies: "Although they are over in the capital, people are buying equipment in other regions."
The devices, according to him, are sent together with other equipment, the request for which comes from Donbass - from optical sights to shoes. Commercial drones "are much more affordable than those produced by enterprises of the military-industrial complex, they can be purchased en masse," the expert explained.
Commercial drones are also needed by the Ukrainian military. The Armed Forces of Ukraine use more than 6 thousand commercial drones, mainly manufactured in China, noted in May the founder of DroneUA Valery Yakovenko. In April, the Ukrainian Aerorazvedka division demonstrated the throwing of anti-tank grenades from octocopters - for this, a 3D-printed tail was attached to the grenades. The heads of companies providing cloud services and updates for drones "make decisions every day with military consequences," the American Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) noted in May.
The drone models available on the Russian market are suitable only for video shooting, for other purposes - for example, logistics or fighting mass riots - they cannot be used, says a source of Kommersant in the retailer: "They do not have sufficient load capacity, flight range, battery capacity." He clarified that some drones cannot be imported to Russia due to the lack of permission to use certain radio frequencies.