Rosatom is ready to spend RUB 260 million for acquisition of drones intended for NSR
Two unmanned aircraft systems are to be installed
Rosatom is ready to spend RUB 260 million for acquisition of drones which will be used on the Northern Sea Route (NSR), Maksim Kulinko, Deputy Director of Rosatom’s NSR Directorate, said at the Strategic Session “Russian Ports: A New Impulse For Port Service Development” held in the framework of the Neva 2023 exhibition in Saint-Petersburg.
“So far, we are considering the installation of one complex on an icebreaker and the other will be a coastal complex. It is a comprehensive unmanned aircraft system which includes two drones, payload, radio communication and consoles for controlling both the drone and the information obtained in real time. The corporation is ready to spend a total of RUB 260 million,” he said.
In summer 2023, the second phase of tests on ice reconnaissance involving a deck-based drone complex was successfully held in the water area of the Gulf of Ob in the Kara Sea.
The Northern Sea Route is a single transport system in the Russian Arctic sector. It stretches along the northern coasts of Russia across the seas of the Arctic Ocean (Kara, Laptev, East Siberian, Chukchi seas). The route links the European ports of Russia with the mouths of navigable rivers in Siberia and the Far East. In August 2022, a plan for the development of the Northern Sea Route (NSR) until 2035 was approved. The plan includes over 150 activities with total financing nearing RUB 1.8 trillion. According to the plan, the annual cargo traffic on the Northern Sea Route is to reach 80 million by 2024, 150 million tonnes by 2030, 220 million tonnes – by 2035.
State Atomic Energy Corporation ROSATOM has been a single infrastructure operator of the Northern Sea Route from 2018. It is in charge of organizing shipping, construction of infrastructure facilities, ensuring navigation and hydrographic support and safety in challenging Arctic conditions. The authority of Rosatom’s Northern Sea Route Main Directorate covers Atomflot, Hydrographic Company and Glavsevmorput.
