A squadron of the Orlan-10 and Forpost (Outpost) unmanned aerial vehicles for the Arctic region has been formed in Russia’s Eastern Military District. It is based near the administrative center of Chukotka Autonomous District Anadyr, head of the press service of the Eastern Military District Alexander Gordeyev told TASS on Monday.

The Eastern Military District comprises, among others, the Trans-Baikal territory, the Pacific Fleet and the 3rd Command of Air Force and Air Defense and is headquartered in Khabarovsk.

“The unit has been created in Chukotka Autonomous District near the city of Anadyr. To fulfill the tasks the squadron is equipped with the Orlan-10 and Forpost unmanned aerial vehicles,” Gordeyev said.

According to him, the unmanned aerial vehicles will perform the tasks of “the visual monitoring of the combat readiness of the units deployed to the Arctic zone, the condition of the military infrastructure facilities, the surveying of terrain and air patrol.”

“The unit will be soon replenished with new airborne devices capable of performing tasks at a distance of more than 1,500 kilometers,” Gordeyev said.

Until the 1990s, Russia had a ramified airfield infrastructure in the Arctic region. Now the Russian Defense Ministry is restoring these Soviet-era airbases – the Temp [Speed] strategic airfield on Kotelny Island, the air strips in Tiksi, Naryan-Mar, Alykel, Anadyr, Rogachev [Novaya Zemlya archipelago], Nagursky settlement [Franz Josef Land] on the Kola Peninsula. The groupings of the Air Force and the Aerospace Forces in the Arctic region are being expanded and 6 big military towns are being built. The military’s actions in the Arctic region are coordinated by Russia’s new Sever (North) Unified Strategic Command.