Drones to Patrol Forests Around Lake Baikal to Prevent Wildfires

Russia is deploying domestic drones to monitor and protect the vast shoreline of Lake Baikal, aiming to safeguard more than a million hectares of forest from fire.

Russia is expanding its use of domestic drone systems for civilian purposes, particularly in environmental protection. Since June unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) will monitor nearly 600 kilometers of Lake Baikal’s shoreline as part of a wildfire prevention initiative in the Pribaikalsky National Park—including hard-to-reach areas.

The drones will cover a massive 1.4 million hectares of forest. Initially, Russian-made vertical takeoff models Baikal 16V and Baikal 60V will be used along with the Barghuzin-T1 quadcopter.

In the second phase, heavy-lift helicopter-style drones and long-range UAVs equipped with optical systems will join the mission.

Beyond fire monitoring, these drones will also assess the condition of nature reserves. The experience gained from the Lake Baikal deployment will inform drone applications in other sectors of Russia’s economy.