Murmansk Region to Create Arctic Uncrewed Systems Development Center
Russia’s Murmansk region plans to open a research and production center for uncrewed systems designed to operate across multiple environments, Governor Andrei Chibis said at the Marine Robotics strategy session on cooperation between science and industry.
Chibis said uncrewed vehicles are increasingly needed for both civilian operations and security, but Russia currently lacks a single center covering the full range of their applications. The new facility is intended to fill that gap by bringing together the development of versatile systems for four environments: at sea, in the air, on land, and underground. The Murmansk region hopes the project will establish it as a hub for intelligent technologies designed for the Arctic. The regional government has not disclosed a launch date or the amount of investment but hopes to attract private-sector partners to the project.
Chibis said robotics could have an impact across several industries. Uncrewed vessels could cut the cost of shipping goods to remote communities by several times, while other autonomous systems could be used to load and unload ships at ports, including handling containers. Mining is another potential application: PhosAgro already uses uncrewed systems for blasting operations at its mines in Kirovsk and is testing autonomous trucks at its open-pit mines.
