The Russian Education Ministry announced Thursday that the country's vocational schools are to train the operators of unmanned aircraft systems (UAVs), according to state media TASS.
Instruction will be offered in secondary vocational education institutions and other learning centers to teach operators "of unmanned aircraft systems with a maximum take-off weight of 30 kg and less," Education Minister Sergei Kravtsov said in remarks made during a speech at the Moscow Urban Forum, according to TASS.
Kravtsov did not give a timeline for when those training programs would be put in place.
Some context: Last month, US intelligence officials warned that Russia is also building a drone-manufacturing facility in-country, with Iran’s help.
Analysts from the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) told a small group of reporters during a briefing in July that the drone-manufacturing facility now under construction is expected to provide Russia with a new drone stockpile that is “orders of magnitude larger” than what it has been able to procure from Iran to date.
When the facility is completed, likely by early next year, the new drones could have a significant impact on the conflict, the analysts warned.
In April, the US released a satellite image of the planned location of the purported drone manufacturing plant, inside Russia’s Alabuga Special Economic Zone about 600 miles east of Moscow.
The analysts said Iran has regularly been ferrying equipment to Russia to help with the facility’s construction.
They added that to date, it is believed that Iran has provided Russia with over 400 Shahed 131, 136 and Mohajer drones – a stockpile that Russia has almost completely depleted, they said.
Russia is primarily using the drones to attack critical Ukrainian infrastructure and stretch Ukraine’s air defenses, a senior DIA official said.
