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Opening remarks by the President

President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Good afternoon, colleagues.

Before we get down to our agenda, I would like to extend my best wishes to the retired and current defence industry employees on their professional holiday, Gunsmith Day, and to thank them for their diligent work, commitment to their profession and strong performance.

Our country has always taken pride in its defence industry – our designers, engineers, workers, and managers who have always helped our troops defeat the enemy and made a significant contribution to Russia's security and defence capabilities by creating unique weapons and equipment.

Our defence industry sector continues to work steadily and efficiently, supplying modern weapons, equipment, munitions and gear to our forces taking part in the special military operation.

Thanks to their work, the production of high-demand products has increased severalfold and their combat characteristics have been improved and adjusted to combat specifics.

I would like to make special mention of the defence industry workers who not only repair equipment and return it to the battlefront as soon as possible, risking their health and lives alongside our military personnel in the zone of hostilities, but also apply their unique knowledge to propose design improvements, particularly concerning range, accuracy and other factors. I would like to acknowledge this and express special gratitude for that.

It is extremely important that the efforts of our powerful defence companies have been complemented by the so-called “people’s defence sector.” We have representatives of that sector with us today. These talented young engineers and other professionals come from small and medium-sized businesses.

Once again, I extend my greetings and best wishes to the defence industry personnel on their professional holiday.

Colleagues, comrades,

Our agenda today includes a range of issues related to the development of special-purpose unmanned aircraft systems. This is an important and in-demand issue, as we all know, and it is becoming increasingly clear that it is of the essence for ensuring the country’s security. Drones of various classes have become an integral part of modern warfare. Unmanned systems can be effectively used for various purposes on the battlefield, as the special military operation has confirmed.

I have just been shown some of the cutting-edge domestic defence industry products here at the Special Technology Centre. My colleagues present here and I saw unmanned aerial systems with payloads and special software, some of it AI-enabled, as well as other weapons and equipment.

These products are manufactured using advanced technologies and new engineering solutions, which gives our units an advantage on the battlefield. I would like to express my deep gratitude to the company’s management and employees for high-quality and reliable equipment.

Many other defence industry companies are working in the same vein, and their products have shown their worth during the special military operation. About 140,000 unmanned aerial vehicles of various types have been delivered to the Armed Forces in 2023. This year, the production of UAVs is to be increased many-fold — specifically, almost tenfold. In addition, we are broadening the range of available unmanned systems, creating unmanned boats – we also saw them today – and multi-purpose robotic platforms. Most of these will be sent to troops at the contact line.

I would like to emphasise that we need to fully meet the needs of the Armed Forces, and to do this, we need to consistently increase the output of drones, improve their combat performance (including by introducing AI components, which I mentioned), and constantly modernise them based on combat experience. I have just discussed with my colleagues that we see almost weekly updates, and whoever responds faster to these challenges on the battlefield wins.

Alongside improving drones, we also need to upgrade counter-drone capabilities, including electronic warfare and firepower systems. This will save the lives of our servicemen and civilians, and will have our military equipment and civilian infrastructure, as well as critical facilities, better protected.

As I have said on many occasions, a key task is to produce a long line of UAVs and to especially start their mass production of these promising systems as soon as possible. Of course, we must also lay the groundwork for the future, trying to forecast what goas UAVs could be set tomorrow.

It is noteworthy that the so-called people’s defence sector is working alongside our large companies and concerns to manufacture UAVs in large quantities. Moreover, their products are often on apar with those produced by large companies in terms of reliability and efficiency.

I know that the Defence Ministry and the Popular Front have done a great deal to unlock the potential of the people’s defence sector, expanding the test system to check the quality and performance capabilities of new models. The Technical Council is working on a regular basis, taking decisions to promptly organise the supply of the high-demand models through the Defence Ministry and the Popular Front.

I would like to express gratitude to our volunteer organisations, which deliver reconnaissance drones and electronic counter-drone equipment to our units that are taking part in the special military operation.

It is vital to continue to develop this interaction, helping people’s defence sector put their designs into production and lifting barriers that may hinder the supply of drones to our forces.

I would like to note that this year we launched the Unmanned Aviation Systems national project, which is designed to run through 2030. Its priorities include assisting the design and production of domestic components and materials for unmanned aerial vehicles. It is a key to our technological sovereignty in this vital sphere.

Some of our colleagues have told us how this is happening in practice, which is truly good news. However, far from all goals have been achieved, and so all of us must get actively engaged in this sphere. It is obvious that small and medium-sized enterprises cannot tackle some projects, which calls for synergy between large research centres, major companies and small businesses.

The design, testing and mass production of drones will carried out at special research and production centres. We intend to establish 48 such hubs in different regions by 2030.

Let us talk about all these issues.

Let us begin. Mr Belousov, please.

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