In 1992, Boris Yeltsin formed the Russian Armed Forces uniting all Soviet Armed Forces under Russian rule. Since then, the Russian Armed Forces has become the largest and strongest European military force, second in the world only to the United States of America’s military forces. Russia and the US have had a rocky relationship, but since the ending of the Cold War, the two forces have officially been allies. Though both nations are on the same side, they rightfully keep many of their military plans secretive. However, Russia recently announced a new partnership between one of it’s largest defense firms and a drone startup company to build a new fleet of drones.

In 2007, Vladimir Putin founded Rosetec in Moscow to consolidate companies invested primarily in defensive and high tech industries. Now Rosetec is comprised of 14 holding companies, 11 of which are defensive companies, the remaining 3 are civilian enterprises. Run by CEO Sergey Chemezov, Rosetec has defensive contracts with 70 nations worldwide. Rosetec just contracted Aeroxo to make a drone that could be specifically used in Arctic conditions. Founded in 2014 by Eldar Razroev, Aeroxo is one of Russia’s first commercial drone manufacturers. They specialize in building drones with long range capabilities for both personal, commercial, and now military use.

Geographically, Russia spans over 463,000 square miles of territory in the Arctic Circle, about one-fifth of Russia’s total landmass. When Vladimir Putin established Rosetec he also revitalized his plans for a military presence in the Arctic territories. Putin’s goals for his Arctic military presence is to enhance Russia’s homeland defense, secure economic development, and project a powerful military staging ground. Unfortunately, the harsh Arctic conditions have made this a difficult task. For the most part, Russia relies on helicopters to transport military materials throughout its northern regions. Though, as Samuel Bendett, an advisor at the Center for Naval Analyses in Virginia explained, “The Russian Far North is a dangerous environment for many manned aircraft, and the Russian industry and military is turning to unmanned systems specifically developed for the Arctic weather conditions as a way to save money, expand capabilities and prevent potential human pilot losses.”

A single helicopter can cost millions of dollars, while each individual flight can cost thousands. Operating a helicopter under the extreme conditions in the Arctic is even more expensive. It is also a very treacherous undertaking as weather patterns can dramatically change over an unforgiving landscape, posing a great risk to anyone onboard. Accidents can be fatal and cost millions of dollars. This is why using an unmanned aircraft is a logical option for Arctic environments. No human lives are put at risk, and in the event of an accident, there is a much smaller financial loss. The question is how to build a drone that can undertake the workload of a helicopter.

The initial phase of Rosetec and Aeroxo’s collaboration will be to build upon their already existing drone, the ERA-100. The relatively small, yet robust drone, is made to fly smoothly in extreme weather conditions. It can handle the freezing temperatures, strong winds, and even the snow of the far north. The ERA-100 has a minimalist body with a 6′ wingspan. It can fly up to 75mph with an approximate 75mile range or 1.5hour flight time. It can also carry an additional 5.5lb payload. But what makes the ERA-100 unique is that Aeroxo describes it as a “convertiplane”, an aircraft that combines the best features of a helicopter and airplane. Many drone manufacturers are looking at VTOL (Vertical Take Off and Landing) designs to create a drone that is more battery and flight efficient. But once airborne, the drone needs to be able to transition to horizontal flight.

Aeroxo’s ERA-100 is a VTOL drone, one that can take off and land like a helicopter, then transition to fly like a standard drone or airplane. It does this through specialized rotors that can shift positions. As explained on Aeroxo’s website, “The use of tilt-rotor technology enables ERA-100 to combine the vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) capabilities of a helicopter with the speed and range of a conventional fixed-wing aircraft.” In an Arctic environment, this means the drone can be deployed and retrieved from most any location since there is no need for a runway. The tilt-rotors allow the drone to complete missions rapidly and even change mid-flight to avoid sudden changes in weather.

Seeing as the current ERA-100 can only support a small payload, certain modifications will be made to increase this payload up to 15lbs. The drone will be used to transport supplies between military outposts. The drone is also equipped with an array of cameras and sensors that will be used to patrol borders, inspect ice conditions, and monitor infrastructure facilities. Rosetec and Aeroxo are also planning on building a much larger version of the ERA-100 to support larger scaled military operations. The new drone will reportedly have an extended payload capability of 175lbs.

Though no concrete information on Aeroxo’s timeline for getting the ERA-100 in the field has been released, they are in the works to start mass producing them for Rosetec. While some mission objectives for the drone have been alluded to, the Russian Armed Forces will most likely keep many of the details classified. It will be interesting to see how successful the ERA-100 performs in the Arctic circle and how this could affect further military and research drone developments.