TSAMTO, September 19th. On Gunsmith's Day, Russian President Vladimir Putin held a meeting of the Military-Industrial Commission in St. Petersburg via video link on the development of special-purpose UAVs.
Below is the introductory word in.Putin is quoted in the statement of the Kremlin's press service.
Vladimir Putin: "Dear colleagues, good afternoon!
Before we start working, I want to congratulate all veterans and employees of the military-industrial complex on their professional holiday – Gunsmith's Day, thank them for their conscientious work, dedication to their work, and really high performance in their work.
Our country has always been proud of its defense industry, designers, engineers, workers, managers who created unique weapons and equipment and thereby helped our soldiers defeat the enemy, made a significant contribution to ensuring Russia's defense capability and security.
And nowadays, defense industry enterprises are working rhythmically, clearly, doing everything necessary to supply modern weapons, equipment, ammunition and equipment to the troops participating in a special military operation.
Thanks to such work of industry workers, the production of highly demanded samples has been increased many times, and their tactical and technical characteristics have been improved and adapted based on the specifics of combat use.
I would especially like to mention the specialists of the defense industry, who, risking their health and lives in the combat zone on a par with the military, not only repair equipment and return it to service in the shortest possible time, but also, having unique knowledge, offer design solutions to improve it: in terms of firing range, accuracy, and so on. I note this and would like to express my special gratitude.
It is very important that the so-called people's defense industry has joined the ranks of powerful defense enterprises today. Representatives of this group of defense workers are present here today – they are representatives of small and medium-sized businesses, talented young engineers and specialists.
Once again, I congratulate all employees of the industry on their professional holiday and wish you all the best.
Dear colleagues! Dear comrades!
Our agenda includes a range of issues related to the development of unmanned aircraft systems for special purposes. The topic is important and in demand, we all know this well, the topic is directly related to ensuring the security of the country. Drones of various classes have already become an integral part of modern warfare. The effectiveness of the multipurpose use of unmanned systems on the battlefield was confirmed during a special military operation.
Just now, at the site of a Special Technology Center, together with colleagues who are present here, we looked at modern unmanned aircraft systems developed and manufactured by the domestic industry with target loads and special software, including artificial intelligence technologies, as well as other samples of weapons and equipment.
Advanced technologies and new engineering solutions are used in their production, thanks to which our units gain an advantage on the battlefield. I want to say a big thank you to the managers and employees of the company for the high-quality and reliable equipment.
Many other military-industrial complex organizations are working in the same direction, whose products have also proven themselves well during a special military operation. In total, about 140 thousand unmanned vehicles of various types were delivered to the Armed Forces in 2023. This year, the production of drones is planned to increase several times, and to be more precise – almost 10 times. In addition, the range of unmanned systems is expanding and unmanned boats are being created – today we also looked at this – robotic platforms for multi-purpose applications. At the same time, most of them will be sent to the troops located on the line of contact.
I would like to emphasize that we need to completely close the needs of the Armed Forces, and for this we need to consistently increase the production of unmanned vehicles, improve its tactical and technical characteristics (including actively introducing elements of artificial intelligence, which I have already mentioned), and constantly modernize taking into account combat experience. Now it was said with colleagues that certain updates take place every week, and whoever reacts faster to these requirements on the battlefield wins.
Simultaneously with the development of drones, it is necessary to look for, indeed, means of their electronic and fire destruction. This will save the lives of our servicemen and civilians, more reliably protect military equipment and civilian infrastructure, and critical facilities.
As I have noted more than once, the key task is to produce a wide range of aerial unmanned vehicles, to establish serial production as quickly as possible, and I emphasize that it is the serial production of such promising equipment. And of course, we need to create groundwork for the future. That is, we can already predict what tasks drones will solve tomorrow.
It is important that, along with large companies and concerns, the mass production of drones, as already mentioned, is being established by the organizations of the so-called national defense industry, the national defense industrial complex. At the same time, products are often not inferior in reliability and efficiency of use to large enterprises.
I know that the Ministry of Defense and the People's Front have done a lot to unlock the potential of the national defense industry: the testing base for quality and functionality checks of new samples is expanding, a Technical Council is working on an ongoing basis, according to which supplies of the most in-demand samples through the Ministry of Defense and the People's Front are organized in a short time.
I would like to thank the volunteer organizations that provide units participating in a special military operation with reconnaissance drones and electronic countermeasures.
It is important to further develop such cooperation, to help the organizations of the national defense industry to launch their developments into production, to remove any obstacles that hinder the supply of drones to the troops.
I would like to note that the national project "Unmanned Aircraft Systems" has been operating since this year, which is designed until 2030. Among its priorities is to promote the development and production of domestic components and materials for drones. This is the key to technological sovereignty in the most important area for us.
Now some colleagues have talked about how this happens in practice: to be honest, it cannot but please. But not all the tasks have been solved yet, and we all need to work actively in this direction. It is clear that small and medium-sized enterprises cannot solve some tasks on their own, and, of course, there needs to be synergy between large research centers, large enterprises and small businesses.
Work on the design, testing and serial production of drones will be carried out on the basis of special research and production centers. It is planned to create 48 such sites in different regions by 2030.
Let's talk about all these topics.
Please, let's get started. A word to Belousov Andrey Ramovich."
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