Russia signals plan to transfer drone tech to India
A university and drone manufacturing center in the Russian region of Tomsk are preparing to sign a deal with India to transfer UAV technology and establish a local production facility.
The upcoming partnership was announced by the rector of Tomsk State University (TSU), Eduard Galazhinsky, during the Industry Code conference, TASS reported. TSU and the Research and Production Center for Unmanned Aircraft Systems (RPC UAS) of Tomsk Region will transfer the technology.
”Our colleagues are ready to transfer the funds for us to supply the technology for producing the unmanned system and build a factory in India,” Galazhinsky said. “The university and the UAS Research and Production Center will transfer the entire package of technological solutions and then receive royalties.”
“We need to sign an agreement with the Indian side now,” he said. Other details of the deal have not been revealed, including who the Indian partners are.
Galazhinsky noted that the agreement would provide the institutions in Tomsk with vital access to the international market, generating additional resources to support local workforce training and production development.
The Tomsk-based RPC UAS, which is positioned to lead the technical side of the transfer, is the largest unmanned aircraft research and development hub beyond the Urals. The facility was opened in February last year as part of a national project and is backed by federal and regional funds.
It operates under a special regional experimental legal regime designed to streamline drone testing.
Its capabilities span from initial design and additive manufacturing to final assembly and flight testing. The center has already successfully developed Russia’s first domestic 50-kilowatt drone motor and produced a small batch of heavy-duty unmanned aircraft capable of carrying payloads of up to 200 kg.
