MOSCOW, February 20. /TASS/. A test center for drones was opened for the first time in Russia - it is organized in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Region, the regional government's press service said.

"Unmanned aircraft have been used in a growing number of areas," the press service quoted the region's Governor Dmitry Artyukhov as saying. "The launch of infrastructures of the kind on the Yamal offers new opportunities in the region's development, including environmental monitoring, cargo delivery, search and rescue operations, and other important tasks. The region will continue developing this area thus building up its leading position in unmanned technologies in the Arctic."

The center has two platforms: two modular buildings for unmanned aircraft and special equipment have been erected at the Obdorsk station, and driveways, an apron with a taxiway and a landing pad have been equipped there. The second platform is mobile - it is created using base of two Burlak all-terrain vehicles, with equipment for drone flights. This solution allows deploying it quickly in any area and adapting it easily to various tasks.

Tests on the Yamal will feature experts of Russian scientific and certifying organizations. The region has identified six locations to deploy mobile landing sites: in the villages of Pelvozh, Katravozh, Harp, in the area of the Harbey River, at the Payuta and Laborovaya trading posts. The number of locations will increase due to available infrastructures in the Shuryshkarsky, Yamalsky and Priuralsky Districts.

The Arctic Test Center is Russia's only site where manned and unmanned aerial vehicles are based simultaneously. The center's infrastructures will be used for a flexible route network to cut transportation costs and to have quicker deliveries, to certify and test new models of drones. In 2024, the Yamal and Samara became pilot regions to implement a federal project to create infrastructures for drones' landing sites.