Russian emergencies minister opens center of unmanned aviation in Moscow region

Russia’s emergencies ministry on Sunday opened an unmanned aviation center at the ministry’s Moscow region department. The ceremony was attended by Minister Vladimir Puchkov. "The unmanned aviation center will help improve the quality of monitoring and raise the level of crisis response," he said.

The minister said drones would be used for aerial surveying to establish precise coordinated of emergency situation, damaned facilities, epicenters of wildfires and man-caused fires. Apart from that, in his words, drones would be used to monitor the flood situation and ice cloggings. "The emergencies ministry is developing unmanned aviation, robotic science, the systems of personnel training," Puchkov said, adding that the Moscow region "is a pioneer in the implementation of all new cutting-edge approaches in the area of ensuring safety of human life and activity."

The opening of the unmanned aviation center in the Moscow region was timed to coincide with the ministry’s 25th anniversary marked on December 27. "Today, the rescue service performs a wide range of activities to prevent emergency situations, to respond to emergencies to help those affected," he said. "The system of crisis management is being developed." "Currently, the ministry is finalizing documents on its development up till 2030," Puchkov added.