YUZHNO-SAKHALINSK, July 15 A network of drone centers for agricultural operations may appear in Russia within five years, a market expert from NTI Aeronet said on the sidelines of Archipelago 2024 Maxim Chizhov.
“»In the next five years, drone centers with hundreds of unmanned aerial vehicles for agricultural operations may appear in Russia. Such centers will repair and maintain drones, provide surveying and digitization services, as well as unmanned delivery,» the expert said. 
According to him, 100 years ago, machine and tractor stations (MTS) became an important part of the country's industrialization.
«»The drone center is an analogue of the MTS. The appearance of such an object, in addition to the requirements for personnel qualifications, determines the transport arm. This can be the territory of a large district, several districts, or even the entire region. Within a radius of two hours driving on roads from the drone center, which corresponds to a radius of approximately 100 km, maybe 1 to 2 million hectares of agricultural land. Such a center will operate more than 200 drones, ensuring the prompt execution of agricultural operations for farms located in the service area. Also, an operational supply of spare parts and service and engineering personnel can ensure the maintenance of operation (including). airworthiness) of complexes with UAS for agricultural operations,” said Chizhov.
«Archipelago» is an annual design and educational intensive for representatives of technology companies and startups, engineering teams, management teams of regions and universities, representatives of scientific organizations that develop projects in the field of new technologies. In 2024, “Archipelago” will take place in the Sakhalin region from July 8 to July 21. The main venues for the event were the city of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk and the Pushisty airfield. One of the key areas of the Archipelago’s work was the development of scenarios for the use of drones (civil exercises).