It's all right: agro drones will become the basis of unmanned aircraft

The unmanned civil aviation industry may become profitable no earlier than 2029. This conclusion was made by the participants of the newly opened International Exhibition of the Helicopter Industry and Unmanned Aircraft Systems HeliRussia 2025. They believe that flight restrictions in central Russia may remain after the end of their military training. However, there are exceptions. These are agricultural drones and heavy unmanned tiltrotor aircraft that can pull the industry out of a dead end. The results of the first day of a major industry event can be found in the Izvestia article.

It's cheaper to fly by helicopter

The drone has already lost the competition to the delivery of goods on a scooter in big cities, what will happen next — this visit by the moderator of the plenary session, military expert Alexei Samoletov, stunned the participants of the plenary discussion of the HeliRussia helicopter industry forum.

Indeed, UAV delivery projects in large cities are in their infancy due to unprofitability, but the industry of their destruction has grown, which significantly restricts the legitimate use of such drones, the participants of the event noted.

By the end of 2024, the market for drone services amounted to only 5-6 billion rubles, which is extremely small for a large country, experts added. Only two or three companies out of a hundred UAV operators are truly commercial. And this is not surprising, because drone delivery even in the Far East and the Arctic zone remains unprofitable.

"The economics of flights show that cargo delivery by Mi—8 helicopters is several times cheaper than by unmanned vehicles," said Dmitry Yadrov, head of the Federal Air Transport Agency. — This is partly why the agency in recent years did not introduce fees for air navigation services for them in order to support the nascent industry to some extent.

However, now there are areas of the market where unmanned aircraft systems will be in demand and will be able to form a profitable market, the head of the agency believes. This is an aerochemical treatment of farmland, where agrodrons show high efficiency.

— Just the other day, we met with representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture on agrodrones and their use. A discussion session was held at the Timiryazev Academy," Dmitry Yadrov said.

According to him, the ministry considers unmanned aircraft to be one of the key areas of agricultural development, because it sees great potential in it for chemical processing of fields.

The head of the Federal Air Transport Agency noted that the use of agricultural drones is much more profitable than airplanes and helicopters in agriculture, including due to the lack of payment for navigation services. Farmers are ready to redistribute the tasks of chemical processing of fields in favor of unmanned systems and gradually reduce the role of manned aircraft here.

"We have consulted with the State Transport Leasing Company (GTLC) and the Ministry of Agriculture on calculating the effectiveness of agricultural scenarios and we see that 80% of the drone market will be in agriculture," said Alexey Serdyuk, head of the Department of Unmanned Systems and Robotics at the Ministry of Industry and Trade. — They can be used to cultivate fields and lands where manned aircraft cannot fly.

The Ministry is also calculating other scenarios for the use of UAS. These are forestry, construction, and fuel and energy sector monitoring. However, drones are not in such high demand there.

Tiltrotor for the Arctic and the Far East

One of the problems of UAS development is the low load capacity of the devices. The United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) undertook to solve it, which at the HeliRussia exhibition presented a flying prototype of the unmanned aerial vehicle system S-76. The device occupied the entire exhibition stand of the company, and it was possible to fully view it only from the balcony — it is so huge. This system is not at all like the usual drones, quadrocopters or airplanes, but combines their elements.

— We have come to the conclusion that the most promising scheme for transport drones is tiltrotor planes. These devices can fly fast, like airplanes, and land on limited platforms, like helicopters," Oleg Bocharov, UAC's first Deputy General Director, said at the exhibition. — We have made a technological machine for a narrow niche of cargo delivery in the Arctic and the Far East. The Ministry of Industry and Trade supported our heavy transport system.

With a length of 7.2 m, the S-76 has a wingspan of 11 m and can take on board two standard pallets with a total weight of 300 kg. The cruising flight speed is 180 km/h at an altitude of 4000 m. The delivery radius is 500 km, and the one—way flight range is 1000 km. You can manage the machines from a single operations center. The S-76 is expected to be used in remote areas of the Far East and the Arctic. Perhaps there he will form a profitable delivery market.

After unmanned aircraft starts operating commercial flights and becomes profitable, the issue of paying for navigation services will arise. However, this will happen no earlier than in three years. According to Dmitry Yadrov, the Federal Air Transport Agency will raise the issue of the rates of charges for navigation services from their operators of unmanned systems on the horizon of 2028-29.

The sky for drones in central Russia will be closed even after its launch, experts say.

"Due to the degradation of airports and take—off sites for aircraft in remote areas of the Russian Federation, the use of vertical take-off and landing systems according to the convertoplan scheme is a priority, despite the multiple higher cost of their operation compared to aircraft-type UAS," Andrey Patrakov, founder of the RunAvia flight safety service, told Izvestia.

However, if we take into account the lack of infrastructure for UAS of the "tiltrotor" type and the need to build it, the cost per flight hour for new drones continues to be higher than that of a manned helicopter of a similar size and payload, he added.

At the same time, these and other systems can only be used in isolated areas, experts at the forum believe.

Every factory now has an infrastructure for intercepting suspicious UAVs. She will not go anywhere and will continue to fight low-flying targets even after the end of her career, said Nikita Danilov, a participant in the discussion, an expert on aviation safety, CEO and founder of Fly Drone. It is difficult to tie them into a single network with a centralized management system, despite the fact that the risks of terrorist attacks using UAVs will remain high. This means that there is a high probability of civilian drones being destroyed by mistake, the expert believes.

— As soon as the security guard of any factory or transport infrastructure facility hears the characteristic drone buzz, his hand reaches for a shotgun, — Alexey Airplanes said with a smile. — The realities of its impact on the civilian sector of unmanned aircraft. UAVs have become a serious weapon and cause concern. This fact may require a reassembly of the UAS national project.

According to Andrey Patrakov, at the moment there is no market for heavy UAS in the Russian Federation, since it is impossible to legally use drones for commercial purposes due to the unavailability of the regulatory framework of the Ministry of Transport. The solution to this problem depends on when and how many customers will appear and what the market for UAS transportation services will be, he added.

According to Konstantin Shadrin, adviser to the governor of the Nizhny Novgorod region on UAS, agro drones are an exception here, because they do not fly high and are essentially "bouncing tractors."

They fly at altitudes of 5-10 m above limited areas of farmland and do not pose a threat to air traffic and protected areas. It is agrodrones that can now become pioneers in the market of ultra-small aircraft services, the expert believes.

The exhibition is being held at Crocus Expo from May 15th to 17th. These days, they plan to discuss the issues of the so-called "seamless sky", that is, the possibility of flying unmanned vehicles in conjunction with other civilian vessels, as well as the development of the helicopter industry.