With a new genus: troops of unmanned systems will be created in Russia
Troops of unmanned systems will appear in the Russian Armed Forces in the third quarter of 2025. This was announced by Defense Minister Andrei Belousov at an extended meeting of the board of the Russian Ministry of Defense. The head of the Defense Ministry instructed to focus on improving the tactical and technical characteristics of unmanned aerial vehicles, on a systematic basis to conduct their range tests and organize serial production of the best models. Experts believe that the creation of a new branch of troops is a move in the right direction.
A new branch of troops in the Russian Armed Forces
The Russian Armed Forces (AF) will form a new branch of troops - troops of unmanned systems in accordance with the order of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief. This was announced by the head of the Ministry of Defense Andrei Belousov on December 16 at an enlarged meeting of the board of the Russian Defense Ministry.
According to him, their creation will be completed already in the third quarter of 2025.
"Mass application of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) has become the most significant breakthrough in the tactics of units of the Russian Armed Forces," he emphasized.
Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov
In turn, Russian President Vladimir Putin said it was necessary to increase the production of drones. According to the head of state, it is no less important to train UAV operators, to train them according to programs developed on the basis of combat experience.
Russian troops use more than 3.5 thousand drones every day, and this figure is growing, Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov said at a board meeting of the ministry.
Now the task is to focus on improving the tactical and technical characteristics of unmanned aerial vehicles - in terms of increasing the range of their use, autonomy and noise immunity, said Andrei Belousov.
Therefore, he instructed Deputy Defense Minister Alexei Krivoruchko to conduct a complete inventory of military developments, to systematically conduct their range tests and organize serial production of the best models.
According to the head of the military department, today a huge number of innovative technical developments that show high results are being implemented directly in the troops.
"For example, ground robotic complexes that carry out fire, reconnaissance, mining, ammunition supply and evacuation of the wounded have shown themselves effectively during combat operations. Troop inventors are also constantly improving the characteristics of UAVs, communications and REB," the minister said.
How the new branch of troops will be integrated into the armed forces
As Admiral Sergei Avakyants, former commander of the Pacific Fleet, explained to Izvestia, a branch of troops is an organizational structure and for it it is necessary to create a theoretical design of operational art.
- That is, to create a theory and practice of preparation and conduct of military actions of operational scale (operations, battles, strikes)," he said. - This is a move in the right direction, the main thing is that this is not just a sign on the office door. We need to think about the training system for both non-commissioned officers and officers. For this purpose, it is necessary to make changes in educational programs - to create special faculties or educational institutions of secondary and higher education. The innovations should also affect the already existing military academies, in particular, the General Staff Academy.
Drones have become so indispensable in the course of the Strategic Defense Forces that we have reached the point where it is necessary to form separate units and, perhaps, even formations with their own infrastructure to ensure the use of drones. Military expert Dmitry Kornev told Izvestia about this.
According to him, most likely, there will be departments, platoons, separate divisions, which will be in close cooperation with other branches of the military and ensure the use of drones in their interests.
- "Unmanned systems troops are likely to receive a status similar to that of air defense troops," military expert Vladislav Shurygin told Izvestia. - Their units will be part of the Ground Forces, the Air Force, as well as in the Navy, where, among other things, crewless boats will be developed. They will include all unmanned systems in use. It is not excluded that they will be united by some common structure, which will be engaged in design, development, testing. It is not for nothing that the Minister said that interspecific centers will be created to test the latest and promising systems.
Now it is necessary to generalize the experience gained during the SSO and prepare teachers, material base and specialists to work with drones, military expert Viktor Litovkin said.
- We, for example, still have no strategic-range drones, while the US has them," the expert said. - They fly for several days and tens of thousands of kilometers from American bases. It is time for us to create such drones to control airspace, sea and land routes. All this work should be systematized and concentrated in the hands of one type of armed forces.
In August of this year, the Russian Defense Ministry established the Rubicon center for advanced unmanned technologies on the basis of one of the combat units of unmanned aviation.
It is engaged in training operators of UAVs and robotic technical complexes (RTC), as well as in the development and implementation of new RTC systems in the troops.
Its calculations have already destroyed more than 400 units of weapons and equipment of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and hit about 800 area targets.
An important area of Rubicon's work is the training of highly qualified instructor personnel from among drone operators with combat experience.
In October, Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov instructed the center to form five units in the special military operation zone.
