MINSK, 6 March (BelTA) - The development of unmanned aircraft systems in Belarus is an excellent prospect, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko said as he visited the exhibition of Russia’s advanced drones in Minsk on 6 March, BelTA has learned.
A similar financial effect can be obtained with using unmanned aircraft systems in logistics, for monitoring needs in various fields and even in educational areas.
“There are a huge number of requests from various countries. Let's respond to these requests together,” Yuri Kozarenko said.
“We will study this matter in detail,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said. “This is a huge prospect for us.”
Aleksandr Lukashenko suggested to compile a group of Belarusian specialists and send them to Russia for additional training in the most advanced areas of unmanned aircraft systems. “You will teach our specialists to work in the area,” he said.
According to the president, in April-May he plans to receive a report from Belarusian specialists, who have been given instructions to develop domestic unmanned systems. The information voiced by the Russian representatives came just at the right moment. “It is great that you told me about it. Now I know whom to ask to help me receive this report,” the head of state said. “We make both planes and helicopters for agriculture. They were on display before. We will together review the results. So get ready.”
“Thank you very much, and I am grateful to Vladimir Vladimirovich [Putin, Russian President] for sending his assistant here to show us all these things. We are capable of doing some things. But I have the feeling that we are only at the first stage. The Russians have made very serious progress in this area,” the president said.
Russia is to host a unmanned systems championship in the autumn. A team from Belarus has also been invited. “Give us a program so we can get ready for the event,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.
Among the participants of the event on Russia’s behalf were Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive Office of Russia Maxim Oreshkin and special representative of the Russian president for digital and technological development Dmitry Peskov. Yuri Kozarenko, Director General of the Transport of the Future, Chairman of the Unmanned Aircraft Systems Competence Center, presented a detailed report on the prospects of using unmanned systems in various sectors.
Russia suggests building a plant in Belarus to manufacture unmanned aerial systems with a capacity of up to 100,000 units annually. The use of a single technological platform will ensure, among other things, economic efficiency and simplify the production and development of new models.
According to Yuri Kozarenko, the use of drones in various sectors will contribute to the country’s GDP in the amount of several U.S. billion dollars. “We have digitized Belarus’ parameters and understand how many drones are needed and what will be the impact on GDP. At the first stage, 2,000 agro-drones will give up to $1 billion to GDP. This includes higher yields, no losses, because agricultural machinery do crush trample crops, cost saving with respect to plant protection products and many more. This also means digitization of all fields. This is smart agriculture,” he cited an example.
“There are a huge number of requests from various countries. Let's respond to these requests together,” Yuri Kozarenko said.
“We will study this matter in detail,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said. “This is a huge prospect for us.”
The head of state was shown various unmanned aircraft systems that can perform a whole range of tasks, including special ones. Among the exhibits there was even an artist drone, which helped set a world record for a mural drawn on the area of 300 m2. This is the world’s largest art object created by a drone.
Aleksandr Lukashenko suggested to compile a group of Belarusian specialists and send them to Russia for additional training in the most advanced areas of unmanned aircraft systems. “You will teach our specialists to work in the area,” he said.
According to the president, in April-May he plans to receive a report from Belarusian specialists, who have been given instructions to develop domestic unmanned systems. The information voiced by the Russian representatives came just at the right moment. “It is great that you told me about it. Now I know whom to ask to help me receive this report,” the head of state said. “We make both planes and helicopters for agriculture. They were on display before. We will together review the results. So get ready.”
In conclusion, Aleksandr Lukashenko thanked the Russian representatives for the information they provided and declared his readiness to cooperate in the construction of the plant: “We are ready to build the plant. We guarantee high-quality construction here,” he said.
“Thank you very much, and I am grateful to Vladimir Vladimirovich [Putin, Russian President] for sending his assistant here to show us all these things. We are capable of doing some things. But I have the feeling that we are only at the first stage. The Russians have made very serious progress in this area,” the president said.
Russia is to host a unmanned systems championship in the autumn. A team from Belarus has also been invited. “Give us a program so we can get ready for the event,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.
Aleksandr Lukashenko heard out a report on the promising areas of cooperation with Russia. Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive Office of Russia Maxim Oreshkin spoke about the topic in detail. There are a lot of areas, and they go far beyond drones. These areas also include platform economy and data economy, the introduction of digital currencies, drive tourism, the development of railroad services, industrial robots, in-depth training of engineering personnel, digitalization of education and healthcare.
“The things you mentioned about medicine, healthcare are something we have already been practicing here. Maybe you got this idea because Russia is huge. We are a relatively small country. We have already introduced everything you talked about as a ‘one-hospital project’ here,” the head of state said. "Linking doctors (the center and regional centers, hospitals) is not a problem. We have already done it. But it is very important to link all this into one whole, as it has been done in Moscow. We need to do it”.
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