Rostec experts will present a paper entitled “The use of additive manufacturing in the creation of unmanned aerial vehicles” at the second international conference Unmanned Aircraft – 2015, which will take place in Moscow on April 17, 2015. Additive manufacturing, or 3D printing, is now actively used in all industries, including aviation and astronautics.

In his report, Rostec’s Chief Project Engineer Vladimir Kutakhov will discuss this innovative approach in creating drones and the advantages of additive manufacturing. He will also talk about the first full-sized drone created by using these technologies.

The transition to digital product creation has appeared in the wake of additive manufacturing, which has revolutionized the engineering industry, particularly the high-tech aviation and aerospace industries, traditionally characterized by small-lot and often single-piece production. Thanks to the transition away from traditional technologies through the use of 3D printing, it is possible to drastically reduce the time needed to create new products.

The Center for Strategic Research in Civil Aviation has organized the conference, which should be attended by more than 150 delegates from Russia and CIS, Asian, and Eastern and Western European countries.

Russian specialists are now actively working on promising projects in the field of unmanned aircraft, such as a two-ton, multipurpose hovercraft, which is being developed on the basis of a 750-pound drone Chirok by United Instrument Manufacturing Corporation. The new drone will use all the same technology, but in a number of ways the larger unit will exceed the smaller model. The conceptual model is already complete and ready for prototyping.

The first full-size model of Chirok, which weights 750 kg, can be seen at MAKS this year. The first flight of this drone is also planned for 2015.