18:24, 10 March 2026

Firefighting Drone Gruzovik M-500 Extinguishes Fuel Storage Tanks

The unmanned system successfully completed the test and put out a simulated fire.

The Gruzovik M-500 firefighting drone, designed to extinguish fires in fuel storage tanks, has been successfully tested in Russia’s Sverdlovsk region. The unmanned aircraft completed the task and put out a simulated blaze, the regional government’s press service told IT Russia.

“Unmanned technologies have become an important element of the modern system of safety and territorial management. They help save lives, monitor the condition of energy and transport infrastructure, and quickly deliver equipment and medicines to hard-to-reach areas. Eight drone manufacturers operate in the Sverdlovsk region, and they are steadily expanding the range of applications for these systems. The development of firefighting unmanned systems opens up new possibilities for handling complex operations while reducing risks to rescuers and residents,” Sverdlovsk region Governor Denis Pasler said.

The emergency scenario was designed to closely resemble real accidents at industrial and oil facilities. The drone rose to a height of 12 meters, assessed the scale of the incident, delivered extinguishing agent and suppressed the flames. The system can be deployed in 5 to 10 minutes. Full extinguishing of the fire took 3.5 minutes.

The Drone Works Alongside a Ground-Based Partner

During the tests, the Gruzovik M-500, developed by Laboratoriya budushchego (Laboratory of the Future), operated together with ground equipment – the UKPM NATISK-0,7-35 mobile compression-foam unit created by the Yekaterinburg company Spetsavtotekhnika. The exercise marked the third stage of testing for the system. Earlier, the drone was tested at the Loginovo airfield and at a high-rise building in Yekaterinburg. The results showed that the unmanned aircraft can operate at altitudes of up to 100 meters and in dense urban areas.

“The final stage of testing was a real trial by fire for us. Extinguishing a fuel tank is an extremely complex engineering task because of the high temperatures and explosion risk. The tests confirmed the system’s operating characteristics and the maturity of the technology,” said Ilya Shevelev, deputy director of Laboratoriya budushchego.

Earlier, Russia developed an AI system to predict forest fires.

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