Rosaviatsia plans to open up to 150-meter high corridor for drones with up to 3km flight option

MOSCOW. June 19 (Interfax) - A separate class of airspace for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) is expected to be restricted by a height of up to 150 meters for itineraries with the possibility of establishing an itinerary at up to three kilometers, the head of Russia's Federal Air Transport Service (Rosaviatsia) said.

"We are proposing to open skies for UAVs of up to 150 meters above ground and also to allow flight itineraries to be established at up to 3,000 meters. Flights will be carried out by permission," Dmitry Yadrov said in an interview with Rossiya-24.

Flights in the new N class will be accessible for UAVs weighing less and more than 30 kilograms, he said. A draft government resolution to establish this class is now in the final stages of the approval process, Yadrov said.

"We needed to strike a balance between manned and unmanned aviation. And when no UAV flights are made in this class in any given moment, it will be possible to use this class for manned aviation," Yadrov said.

A Detect and Avoid system is being developed to prevent collisions between manned and unmanned aircraft, he said. Rosaviatsia is working on a design specification to be implemented by the Industry and Trade Ministry as part of research and development. "For this, the government set us a deadline of March 1, 2030," Yadrov said.

A separate class of airspace for drone flights would be established by the end of 2025, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Vitaly Savelyev said previously.