Civil state order for drones in 2025 will not receive financing for services
As Kommersant found out, the civilian order (GGZ) for drones for the second year in a row will not receive the expected financing for services in the industry. Because of this, according to the participants and market experts, the purchased equipment is idle, since customers do not have money for flights, training of specialists and certification of operators. In the Ministry of Industry, they plan to lay the budget for these purposes by 2026, but they note that the GGZ also restrains restrictions on flights in the regions.
In the GGZ, funds for the provision of services for customers were not allocated for civil drones in 2025, it follows from the supply plan (Kommersant has). The document provides only for the purchase of equipment for 1 billion rubles. The possibility of reorientation of the GGZ from the supply of equipment for the acquisition of services using drones was considered since 2024 (see “Kommersant” of February 11).
According to the GGZ for this year, unmanned aircraft systems (BAS) will be delivered for eight ministries and their subordinate organizations (the Ministry of Natural Resources, the Ministry of Agriculture, Rosnedra, Rosreestr, etc.), as well as to local authorities and universities of 65 regions. Of the eight manufacturers, most of the supplies fall on Geoscan.
As Kommersant’s interlocutors have repeatedly noted in the industry, the lack of funds for services leads to simple equipment in the regions and reduces the demand for the use of bass, which worsens the economy of both manufacturers and companies that purchase equipment for the provision of services. The volume of the market for the services provided in 2024 amounted to 6 billion rubles, of which 2.5 billion rubles. It was supposed to come to the GGZ, said at the Helirussia forum in May Alexey Varyatchenko, general director of LLC BAS (GTLK operator), in the park of which is more than 300 drones. But in reality, the volume of contracts concluded, according to him, amounted to only 2 billion rubles, of which 1.5 billion was for commercial contracts. “The civilian order was implemented only in terms of the delivery of drones, no GGZ services were ordered large-scale, and a number of commercial contracts were canceled due to the complex economic situation,” said the top manager. Another restraining factor in BAS LLC is considered a high price and low quality of domestic drones compared to foreign analogues.
In LLC BAS, according to Mr. Varyatchenko, together with GTLK (the base supplier for the GGZ) and the Ministry of Industry and Trade are working on the creation of hundreds of scenarios for the use of drones for the GGZ. Such scenarios will be based on the cost and working conditions (rural and forestry, construction, monitoring in the oil and gas industry, etc.). Without their implementation, according to the forecast of LLC BAS, the market in 2025 will be the same 2.1 billion rubles, and by 2030 it will grow to only 3.8 billion – almost half the forecast for 2024.
The Ministry of Industry and Trade reported “Kommersant” that the reorientation of the GGZ will begin by 2026: “A new plan with an emphasis on services will be presented as part of the budget process.” So far, the services have not been turned on, since the right number of flight hours must be flying in the framework of the GGZ, and by order in 2024 the bass was set in the fourth quarter. The ministry added that they continue to work « on the formation of proposals for adjusting the legislation. » They emphasize that in sectors such as agriculture, LPC, construction, etc., unmanned aircraft systems can be effective if regulatory restrictions are removed. The solution of the issues of the “closed sky” and permission for flights will help to remove these barriers, concluded in the Ministry of Industry and Trade.
The GTLK answered “Kommersant”, which is considered “appropriate to reformat the civil state order with an emphasis on services that should become a determining factor for manufacturers.” They also see “a great demand for extending the program of preferential leasing, which will allow drone operators to purchase heavy capital -intensive cars and introduce them into the civilian economy.”
The parameters of the national project today “do not properly characterize the market,” said Anton Nikiforov first deputy general director of Aerromax. According to him, the drones purchased at the GGZ 2024 are simply standing in a warehouse. Due to the lack of customers in the budget for the use of drones, the enterprise still order services in the market from other airlines with manned aircraft (Sun), says Mr. Nikiforov.
In practice, the cost of a flight hour depends on the volume of work and contract conditions. In 2024, the manufacturer of BAS Finko entered into an agreement with the FBU Avialeshokhran with the cost of 74 thousand rubles. On the Supercam S350 drone in the Amur Region. In the same year, in Altai, the FBU ordered the services of the Cessna 172 aircraft worth 32 thousand rubles. In the flight hour. The use of the An-2 cost the institution already 91 thousand rubles. per hour. In Geoscan, they told Kommersant that in the aerial photography and monitoring segment, the aircraft can be more expensive only in case of work in very remote and very large territories on a small scale. For example, when it is necessary to shoot all of Yakutia on a scale of 1:10,000.
The use of a drone is more expensive than a manned aircraft, if it is, for example, a difficult aerologistic drone, which requires a large number of maintenance personnel and infrastructure for take -off and landing, says Nikita Danilov founder. And the cargo drone itself is more expensive than the piloted aircraft of the same class, since at best it is produced at best in small series, more expensive spare parts, consumables, and so on, he adds. Mr. Danilov emphasizes that now the owners of the infrastructure used for piloted aviation often do not allow it to use it for drones: « They do not want to accept accompanying risks. » And the creation of a separate infrastructure for the BAS, according to him, affects the cost of their operation.
In addition to the logging guard, the manned transport will remain cheaper in the delivery of goods, said the Director General of Rusronport, the expert of the NTI market, Aeronet Nikolai Ryashin. Small drones, he said, are economically effective on small tactical tasks, when there is no point in lifting a helicopter for half an hour. In the meantime, the expert believes, customers are afraid of responsibility for damage to the bass.
The commercial director of the Laboratory of the Future Pavel Kaminev adds that the use of drones can also cost more if the equipment is incorrectly selected, the insufficient level of competencies of customers to work with such systems and insufficient training. The terms of the supply contract for the GGZ provide for the mandatory basic briefing of users, Pavel Kruglov recalls the sales director of the Geoscan Group of Companies. But the widespread use of bass, he said, is limited by complex regulations and prohibitions that non -core operator faces.
The head of the Aeronecst Association Gleb Babintsev indicates that the problem of the “frozen state order” was that “iron” was purchased, but the money for the use of equipment and the certification of operators were not laid down. According to him, each enterprise from his own funds must include several specialists required by the Federal Air Transport Agency, write 200 pages of guidance management management (RUBP), flight production management (RPP) and coordinate them with regulators. At the same time, Mr. Babintsev emphasizes, there are no clear requirements for these documents. The certification of the operator, he continues, must change the declarative procedure for notification of the state by the enterprise about the beginning of such activities through the public services portal. And the declaration itself should implies the creation of a single industry rubber and RPP. “So far this does not happen, the GGZ will remain an imitation of demand, and the purchased technique will be idle, to be used at all or destroyed,” the expert believes.
