Russia Equips 100,000 Forest Vehicles With ERA-GLONASS to Fight Fires and Illegal Logging

By connecting logging trucks, harvesters, and firefighting machinery to a satellite-powered monitoring system, Russia is bringing real-time tracking to its vast and often vulnerable forests

Since early 2025, more than 100,000 units of forestry equipment in Russia—from timber haulers to harvesting machines and fire engines—have been linked to the country’s "ERA-GLONASS" satellite system. Data from onboard devices now flows directly into the Federal Forest Information System, giving rangers and emergency services the ability to detect fires faster, stop illegal logging, and track timber movement in real time.

Ivan Sovetnikov, head of Russia’s Federal Forestry Agency, said the program has already proven highly effective. Automating core processes has reduced errors and sped up data handling, while equipment registration times have dropped to just one or two days. Technical support requests, he added, fell by 30 percent in the second quarter.

The rollout has been particularly active in Siberia’s forestry-heavy regions, including Irkutsk, Krasnoyarsk, and Tomsk. Mandatory installation of satellite trackers is now a central part of Russia’s strategy to improve transparency in the logging industry and protect its forests from environmental and criminal threats.