Rostec Unveils Autopilot for Agricultural Machinery at YugAgro 2025
The Meshchera automation suite, presented by Rostec at the YugAgro 2025 exhibition, brings defense‑grade precision to agricultural machinery by enabling tractors and harvesters to operate in full autonomous mode with highly accurate positioning and trajectory planning.
Defense Tech for Agriculture
The production of civilian technologies by defense enterprises is increasingly common, given the high manufacturing standards and robust engineering culture developed in the military sector.
At the YugAgro 2025 international exhibition, the High‑Precision Systems holding — part of the Rostec State Corporation — showcased its Meshchera automation suite designed for agricultural machinery. The system was presented in partnership with Bison, a company specializing in agricultural equipment.
Meshchera is an autopilot platform developed using military technologies from VNII Signal. It includes a steering control unit, an antenna module, and an operator tablet.
The system is built upon the Prometey hardware‑software platform and the Filin positioning and leveling system. As a result, the autopilot determines machinery location and direction with high precision, constructs optimized trajectories, and enables tractors and harvesters to operate autonomously. The automation reduces idle mileage, helping farmers cut operational costs.
Meshchera is compatible with nearly all types of agricultural machinery used in Russia. Field tests on tractors will begin in 2026, and developers plan to expand functionality to support autonomous fleet control involving multiple machines.
New Autopilots from Russian Manufacturers
Rostec is also developing autopilot technologies for other industries. According to Alexander Dernovoy, Deputy CEO of High‑Precision Systems, the corporation demonstrated autonomous road‑construction machinery equipped with Prometey at the Road‑2025 exhibition. These systems draw on decades of expertise in ground navigation and automation.
Across Russia, development of autonomous and automated machinery has accelerated. Rusagro, together with global autonomous‑driving leader Cognitive Pilot, has begun testing the Cognitive Agro Pilot system for combine harvesters using computer vision. Trials are underway in Krasnodar Krai on the fields of Progress Agro, in collaboration with Kuban State Agrarian University. Additionally, Rostselmash, one of the country’s largest agricultural machinery manufacturers, presented its own autonomous‑control solutions.
Meshchera fills a key niche in this landscape, strengthening competition in Russia’s agricultural autonomy sector and accelerating the development of next‑generation technologies.
Growth Opportunities for Russian and Global Farmers
Rostec has ambitious plans for the Meshchera platform. The corporation has announced the development of an autonomous fleet‑management system capable of coordinated multi‑machine operation. Such solutions dramatically improve efficiency and reduce labor shortages — a critical issue for agriculture worldwide. Developers also expect the system to be adapted for mining and construction applications.
Given the pace of innovation and market competition in Russia, hundreds of autonomous agricultural machines may be deployed within a few years. This would significantly reduce manual labor, increase productivity, and lower operational costs — strengthening Russia’s technological sovereignty in agricultural machinery.
The impact extends to food production: higher efficiency enables increased output, strengthening Russia’s presence in global agricultural markets.
Russia’s autopilot technologies also have strong export potential, particularly in CIS countries and the Global South, where automation, labor shortages, and yield maximization are pressing concerns.
