Russia will soon teach high school students how to build and fly drones, which have become a key weapon in the war between Moscow and Kyiv.
“Right now, there’s a huge demand from both the state and society for unmanned aerial systems,” said Mikhail Lutskiy, head of educational projects at Geoscan Group, the leading drone manufacturer in Russia.
Russia last year launched a nationwide project called Unmanned Aerial Systems to promote both the domestic production of drones and preparation of drone pilots and other specialists starting with high school students.
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Russian Classrooms Go Military
The project, which is expected to continue until at least 2030, has developed a new textbook on drones written by a group of authors specializing in all aspects of drone manufacturing and operations.
Over the past three years, Russia has undergone significant overhauls in its education system, introducing military subjects and themes laced with a heavy infusion of patriotism that critics say have turned the curriculum into a tool of state propaganda.
The Kremlin has now added the drone textbook to the official federal list, which will enable schools to buy it with state funding. According to the book's authors, it should be of interest to teachers of Basics of Security and Defense of the Motherland, a new subject introduced into Russia's school curriculum in 2024.
The book is composed of six chapters covering everything from the fundamentals of drone aviation to programming autonomous flights. It also highlights possible career paths in the rapidly growing industry.
“By 2030, around 1 million people are expected to be involved in the drone industry,” said Lutskiy. “There’s a need for engineers, designers, and technologists who strive to maximize production volumes and scale.”
After Moscow invaded Ukraine in February 2022, its mechanized infantry and armored forces suffered staggering losses at the hands of Ukrainian troops using rudimentary drones turned into loitering munitions. The Iranian Shahed drones and other types of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have become Russia's preferred options for attacking Ukrainian cities.
“There’s nothing wrong with studying drones and Python,” said Sergey Chernyshov, an academic in the Russian city of Novosibirsk in southwestern Siberia. Python is a programming language used to control and automate drone movements.
Like other tools with civilian applications, a drone in the wrong hands can become a tool of murder, he said.
“That’s already a bad story. Especially given the current context,” Chernyshov said.