Russian schools, colleges, universities and even kindergartens have spent nearly 16 billion rubles over the past four years on drones, drone assembly kits and software used to teach UAV operation. This was reported by Novaya Gazeta Europe. Before the full-scale war, such spending across the country was about 300–350 million rubles per year.
According to the outlet, procurement rose to 600 million rubles in 2022, reached 2.6 billion in 2023 and exceeded 9.7 billion rubles in 2024. In 2025, the figure fell to about 2.8 billion, which the authors link to long-term contracts signed earlier.
Before the war, drones were mainly bought by technical colleges and universities, but general education schools later became increasingly active buyers. The report names Moscow institutions supplying schools and colleges with equipment, along with regional education ministries, among the largest customers. Even the Moscow State Academy of Choreography purchased drones, with UAVs listed among its optional extracurricular activities.
The report identifies the St. Petersburg company Geoscan as the largest supplier to educational institutions. After the launch of the national project Unmanned Aerial Systems in 2024, the company’s revenue rose sharply, the article says. In 2023, the National Intellectual Development Foundation, known under the Innopraktika brand and headed by Katerina Tikhonova, acquired a stake in the company.
The second major supplier named is MT-Integration, which won a 1.4 billion ruble tender in 2023 to provide 600 UAV study kits for 78 Moscow schools. The investigation ranks Prosveshcheniye-Region, part of the Prosveshcheniye group, third.
Since 2024, drone-related topics have been added to the school subject Labor (Technology), while the compulsory course Fundamentals of Security and Homeland Defense includes a separate 10th-grade lesson on UAVs as a tool of armed combat. Defense policy expert Pavel Luzin questioned the practical value of these programs.
“You have a class of 30 people coming for two hours a week... Who exactly are you going to teach under such conditions, and what?” Luzin told Novaya Gazeta Europe.
The outlet also highlights kindergartens that have bought drones and run robotics classes. In some cases, the report says, children are already being introduced to the military context of drone use.