Russia Aims to Recruit 80,000 Contract Soldiers for Unmanned Systems Forces by Year’s End
Effort involves targeting students and moving conscripts to professional contracts
Доступно на русскомThe Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation plans to recruit 78,800 personnel into its newly established Unmanned Systems Forces (VBS) by the end of 2026. This is according to military documents discovered in the public domain by IStories.
One of the files was published on the website of the Vyazemsky Forestry College in Khabarovsk Krai — despite being marked “For Official Use Only.” IStories also located the document on the websites of two rural settlements in Rostov Oblast, though data regarding the size and composition of the VBS units had been entirely redacted from those versions. One was edited using the free online tool iLovePDF, indicating that the full text of the Ministry of Defense’s plans has resided on the servers of a foreign company since December 2025.
Metadata indicates that a file titled “Technical Assignment for Candidates for Unmanned Systems Forces Units” was created on Nov. 30, 2025. The document remained publicly accessible for at least a month; the Wayback Machine first archived a version of the file as early as Feb. 7, 2026.
The Vyazemsky Forestry College published the most comprehensive version of the document, which spans 11 pages. Abridged four-page versions appeared on the websites of a district administration in Ulyanovsk Oblast, as well as the Leninsky Agro-Industrial College and the Sebryakovsky Technological College in Volgograd Oblast.
Filenames for the heavily truncated versions of the document include the phrase “GOMU Material,” suggesting they were prepared by the Main Organizational and Mobilization Directorate (GOMU) of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. GOMU also oversees the development of one of the tools of Russia’s “digital gulag” — an electronic military registry designed to instantly block conscripts and mobilized personnel from leaving the country.
Metadata reveals that all three files were created between Dec. 9 and Dec. 22, 2025, following the original document.
According to leaked data, the Unmanned Systems Forces of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation will consist of:
- 7 separate brigades;
- 15 regiments;
- 70 battalions;
- One division;
- 12 Rubicon detachments;
- 12 companies of “heavy” UAVs;
- 12 companies of ground robotic complexes.
The military seeks to recruit 58,000 personnel from among students, graduates of drone piloting courses, former aviation personnel, and “citizens of the female sex” with relevant training.
An additional 10,800 new recruits for the Unmanned Systems Forces will be secured by transitioning conscripts to professional contracts. The remaining 10,000 positions will be filled by reassigning active-duty personnel from other units.
By the end of 2025, the Ministry of Defense planned to attract 3,500 people to these new units, according to a presentation discovered on the website of a district administration in the Komi Republic.
The military department set a goal to “expeditiously staff from all sources” one separate brigade in each of the five military districts, as well as two separate brigades attached to the Rubicon Center for Advanced Unmanned Technologies.
Only 300 of these recruits were to be drawn from the existing ranks of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, with 600 coming from conscripts. Approximately 2,600 recruits were expected to be sourced from cadets at military training centers — the modern designation for military departments at civilian universities — as well as volunteers from BARS units and other categories.
The Ministry of Defense also compiled data on the number of students in technical majors at universities that train UAV pilots, alongside enrollment targets for military training centers and supplementary education programs for drone pilot instruction.
According to the table, UAV pilot courses at military training centers — the departments housed within civilian universities — were available at 32 institutions, with nearly 2,000 students enrolled. In 2026, more than 400 soldiers, sergeants, and reserve officers with drone piloting experience are expected to graduate from these military departments, followed by over 800 in 2027.
The table appears to set an annual recruitment target for the military training centers at 1,562 people — nearly four times the number of this year’s graduates. Each university on the list is assigned a “responsible central military command body.”
After signing a contract, recruits must undergo three stages, according to an internal Ministry of Defense document. First is preparation at educational institutions in Russian regions, followed by training within the Ministry of Defense’s instructional network and at its proving grounds. Finally, recruits undergo an evaluation for “compliance with qualification requirements.”
The military department’s presentation likely included an early version of the list of “educational institutions” where contract soldiers are sent during the first stage. This list comprises 61 organizations, though it remains unclear whether additional training centers were added later.
According to Ministry of Defense estimates from early December 2025, the organizations on the list could accommodate approximately 1,600 trainees simultaneously. The sites include Moscow universities, UAV manufacturing facilities, and training centers in occupied territories of Ukraine. At least five centers in Donetsk Oblast, four in Luhansk Oblast, two in Sevastopol, and one in Zaporizhzhia Oblast are engaged in training drone operators.
- In mid-November 2025, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation officially announced the formation of a new service branch — the Unmanned Systems Forces. By December, authorities had launched a massive campaign to recruit contract soldiers, and by February 2026, the effort had reached nearly every educational institution in the country.
- Russian authorities had not previously disclosed the size or composition of the new branch. Figures similar to those found in the Ministry of Defense documents were previously cited by Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, who described them as a projected increase in units for 2026. According to Ukrainian data, the Russian Unmanned Systems Forces are expected to number 165,000 personnel by the end of the year.
- In late 2025, the government began an extensive drive to recruit civilian university students for contract service in the Unmanned Systems Forces. To date, the campaign has spread across all of Russia. Students are promised only a year of service far from the front lines, but contract addendums indicate they may be reassigned to the infantry at any time. Furthermore, the contracts are indefinite and cannot be rescinded. In some instances, students have been pressured to sign; IStories has previously detailed these students’ experiences and the legal methods available to counter such coercion.