Russian dictator Vladimir Putin said on Thursday (19) that the Armed Forces will receive almost ten times more drones this year than in 2023, when around 140,000 unmanned devices were produced.
“In total, the Armed Forces received about 140,000 unmanned devices in 2023. This year, it is planned to multiply production, to be precise, almost tenfold,” the Kremlin chief announced during a meeting of the military industry commission, in a speech broadcast on state television.
Putin, who admitted after the start of the invasion of Ukraine that the Armed Forces suffered from a chronic shortage of drones, stressed that Moscow will also expand the production of “unmanned systems” and that “nautical drones” are also being produced.
After visiting a major drone manufacturing company in St. Petersburg, the Russian leader stressed that “the bulk of drones will be sent to the front line” to protect the lives of military personnel and weapons, but also civilians and civilian infrastructure.
“We need to fully meet the needs of the Armed Forces,” he said, proposing the use of artificial intelligence, as technology changes “almost every week”, which will give Russian units an advantage against the adversary.
Putin also projected that by 2030, 48 drone development and production centers will be established in different regions of the country. “The main task is to produce a wide range of unmanned aerial vehicles and establish serial production of this advanced equipment as soon as possible.”
On Wednesday (18), Ukraine launched a drone attack that hit an arsenal of missiles, ammunition and aerial bombs in the Russian region of Tver, less than 200 kilometers from Moscow, something that Kiev had already done in the past in airfields and fuel depots.
In addition, Ukrainian nautical drones forced the Russian Black Sea Fleet to withdraw part of its ships from the annexed Crimean peninsula.
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