MOSCOW, November 27. /TASS/. Russia’s concern Kalashnikov (an affiliate of Rostec) is creating a provider of a variety of services in the unmanned aircraft market segment, the concern’s press-service told TASS.
Kalashnikov has plans for manufacturing drones and provide the full range of maintenance and repair services to any customers interested. The specialists of the yet-to-be created company plan to use drones for handling tasks that require remote-controlled aircraft: aerial photography, map-making, telecommunications, cargo delivery, monitoring of viral diseases, protection of forests and private properties, weather watching and others," the press-service said.
Kalashnikov’s CEO Aleksey Krivoruchko said the concern was certain the market was very much interested in a company that would provide the full cycle of remote-controlled civil aviation-related services, from leasing to repairs and maintenance, to both private and public clients.
"This will make the services of drones far more available and less costly for the clientele," he said.
Kalashnikov-affiliated drone manufactures have already accumulated certain experience of providing unmanned aircraft services to private companies. The group of companies ZALA offers an effective and economically beneficial method of surveying oil and gas pipelines from the air. On the list of its clients there are such private and public companies as Roscosmos, Rostelecom, Transneft, Gazprom, Rosatom, LUKOIL, Rosneft, and many others. ZALA provides its services in Russia and other countries of the CIS.
Kalashnikov said the aircraft fleet of the yet-to-be created company will include both light drones and heavy ones, which are still in the testing phase. Such aircraft are capable of staying in the air for several days without refueling and carrying several tonnes of payload. Heavy drones will begin to be batch-produced by the summer of 2018.