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Drone production facility outside Moscow to get into top gear in 2024

The company to become the first aircraft facility built in post-Soviet Russia

© Vadim Savitsky/Russian Defence Ministry/TASS

MOSCOW, February 1. /TASS/. A new production facility built by Russia’s hi-tech company Kronshtadt in Dubna near Moscow to roll out unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) will begin operating at full capacity in 2024, the company’s press office told TASS on Tuesday.

"Works will continue on the site of the new serial-production facility and several more buildings will be upgraded on the premises of the nearby Dubna machine-building plant (part of Kronshtadt), which will jointly create a center for the production of drones. The serial-production facility will get into top gear in 2024," the press office informed.

The company built the new drone production facility within a record time (April-December 2021) using its own funds. This is the first aircraft enterprise built in post-Soviet Russia, the press office said.

"Kronshtadt invested 12.5 billion rubles [about $164 million] in the project of building the serial-production enterprise and upgrading 14 facilities and workshops of the Dubna machine-building plant in 2021," the company stressed.

Throughout 2022, the company will also carry out landscaping work on the new factory’s territory and create a parking lot, the press office said.

"Two helipads have already been created," it specified.

"Therefore, a production site has been created that provides a full cycle of the manufacture of UAV systems and possesses substantial development potential," Kronshtadt said.

Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu earlier said while inspecting Kronshtadt’s new production facility that the enterprise opened in Dubna would be able to produce deck-based unmanned aerial vehicles and rotary-wing drones. The Dubna facility is designed to roll out tens of large-size drones and ground-based drone control systems and will offer 1,500 jobs in the region, he said.

The Kronshtadt Company is a full-cycle enterprise for the production of drones, from designing to testing and certification. Since it was established in 1991, the enterprise (formerly known as Tranzas) has been engaged in developing onboard, land and seaborne systems, military equipment simulators and interactive technology. The Company has developed Orion-E, Sirius and other drones.

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