Putin calls for rapid development of drones

(Patria) - Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that drones played a major role in the conflict in Ukraine and called for the rapid development and deployment of separate drone forces within the army.

"We are currently creating unmanned systems troops as a separate branch of the military and must ensure their rapid and high-quality deployment and development," Russian news agencies quoted him as saying at a meeting on the development of armaments, Reuters reported last night.

Drones have played a leading role for both sides in the more than three-year-old conflict between Moscow and Kyiv. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has emphasized the importance of developing a domestic drone development and production industry since the outbreak of the war in February 2022.

Putin said on the second day of the gathering that Russia is well aware of how Ukraine is dealing with this issue.

"But overall, I don't believe we are lagging behind in anything," he said.

"More importantly, it seems to me that we are gathering good experience with the aim of creating precisely such forces."

Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov proposed the creation of drone forces at the end of last year, setting a target date of the third quarter of 2025.

Putin also emphasized the importance of developing air defense, which he said has destroyed more than 80,000 targets during the conflict that Russia continues to call a special military operation.

"In this regard, the new state armament program must ensure the construction of a comprehensive air defense system capable of operating in all circumstances and effectively striking with air-launched weapons, regardless of their type," he said.

On the opening day of the meeting, Putin called for due attention to be paid to the nuclear triad of land, sea, and air-launched weapons.