Drone Completes 430-Kilometer Flight in Russia's Far East Without Satellite Navigation
The aircraft was connected to the Geokosmos (Geocosmos) command-and-control system.
Russia's Far East hosted another successful test of the Geokosmos navigation and communications system. The system was used to fly an unmanned aircraft between Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands. Throughout the entire 430-kilometer route, the aircraft remained under the operator's control.
The flight was conducted in full compliance with civil aviation regulations and remained fully controlled while sharing the same airspace with crewed aircraft. According to the developers, this was the first experiment of its kind conducted in Russia.
Geokosmos is being developed by the Russian company Zala. The system combines ground infrastructure with onboard communications equipment. It enables operators to control autonomous aircraft without relying on global navigation satellite systems or mobile communications. In the future, Geokosmos could be used not only in unmanned aviation but also in crewed aviation.
