ST. PETERSBURG, September 19. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin has instructed the authorities to support small producers of UAVs.

"Along with large companies and concerns, the mass production of drones <…> is being established by organizations of the so-called people's defense industry complex," the supreme commander-in-chief said at a meeting of the military-industrial commission on the development of special-purpose unmanned aerial systems.

The President noted that products manufactured by small enterprises, including drones, are not inferior in quality to those made by large ones. Therefore, these small organizations should be supported, including technologically, Putin said.

"The Defense Ministry and the People's Front have done a lot to unlock the potential of the "people's defense industry complex. The testing base for checking the quality and functional capabilities of new models is being expanded, a technical council is working on a permanent basis, by decision of which the most popular models are being delivered in a short time through the Defense Ministry and the People's Front," Putin said.

"It is important to continue to develop such interaction and help "people's defense industry sector" organizations launch their developments into production."

"It is clear that small and medium-sized enterprises cannot solve some problems on their own. Here we need synergy between large research centers, large enterprises and small businesses," the president added.