---
title: "Russia Testing Solar-Powered Drone Capable of Multi-Day Flight"
description: "Russia is allegedly testing a solar-powered drone that would be capable of staying in the air for multiple days at a time, without landing."
date: "2017-10-25"
modified: "2017-10-25"
authors:
  - name: "Marco Margaritoff"
    link: "https://www.thedrive.com/authors/marco-margaritoff"
url: "https://www.thedrive.com/article/15455/russia-testing-solar-powered-drone-capable-of-multi-day-flight"
categories:
  - "News"
tags:
  - "Aerial"
  - "Drones"
---

# Russia Testing Solar-Powered Drone Capable of Multi-Day Flight

![](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/images-by-url-td/content/2017/10/russia-solar-hero-01.jpg>)
*\<em\>www.thedrive.com</em>*

In June, we reported on [Facebook’s success in getting its solar-powered Aquila drone to fly at 3,000 feet](<https://www.thedrive.com/article/12058/facebook-drone-flight-successful>) and land without issue. Last week, [researchers from Stanford and Zurich’s ETH made huge leaps in getting to a proposed 24-hour solar-powered drone flight benchmark](<https://www.thedrive.com/article/15330/solar-powered-drone-may-be-capable-of-perpetual-flight>). While Facebook’s goal is to use unmanned aerial vehicles to spread internet access across the globe, and Stanford and ETH researchers are mainly interested in a continuous monitoring of the Arctic, Russia’s aims aren’t as clear. However, the country is currently in a trial phase of testing its own solar-powered drones.

[According to the *Daily Mail*](<https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-5015697/Russia-tests-solar-powered-drones-fly-DAYS.html>), Russia’s LA-252 model will operate at an altitude of 9 to 13 miles. Presumably, the advantage of having a solar-powered drone at heights like that is rooted in bouncing off internet and satellite communications. Apparently, the drone in question is being tested for multiple-day independent flight, and if trials conclude successfully, it is UAVs like these that could replace our current standard of space satellites. If solar-powered drones can manage all the same tasks our space satellites can, why not replace them with these green, cost-efficient versions?

[Reportedly](<https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-5015697/Russia-tests-solar-powered-drones-fly-DAYS.html>), the LA-252 can be used as a repeater, a Wi-Fi transmitter, and general communication device, and was developed by Khimki-based Lavochkin Research and Production Association. [According to Vadim Kozyulin](<https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-5015697/Russia-tests-solar-powered-drones-fly-DAYS.html>), a professor at Russia’s Academy of Military Science, the UAV can operate above the clouds for several days without having to land. Ominously, [he allegedly stated](<https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-5015697/Russia-tests-solar-powered-drones-fly-DAYS.html>) that it’s essential to develop means of observation and control.

Now, we’ve been fooled by stories like this before, but with [China having set a solar-powered drone altitude world record](<https://www.thedrive.com/article/11132/chinas-new-solar-powered-drone-sets-domestic-altitude-record>) in June, [Facebook’s successful solar-powered flight](<https://www.thedrive.com/article/12058/facebook-drone-flight-successful>), and [the Arctic monitoring UAV](<https://www.thedrive.com/article/15330/solar-powered-drone-may-be-capable-of-perpetual-flight>), it certainly seems more than feasible that this is true. We’ll stay tuned to this story as it develops, and make sure to be as informative and evidence-based as possible.

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