Kuzbass Allocates Nearly 40 Million for Forest Flights
The authorities of Kuzbass are ready to spend nearly 40 million rubles ($444,000 at current rates) on aerial forest fire detection in 2026. This is indicated by a tender for the provision of relevant services, opened the day before by the Kemerovo Forestry (Kemerovskiy Leskhoz), which is under the regional Ministry of Forest Complex and Hunting of the Kemerovo Region.
The initial contract price is 38.6 million rubles ($428,900 at current rates). According to the auction documentation, the winning bidder must prepare two light aircraft with crews and, at the request of the forestry, fly them to suspected forest fire sites within the region up to a distance of 900 kilometers. After each flight and territory inspection, they will be required to fill out a special log and transmit the information to the customer electronically.
Under the terms of the draft contract, the aircraft can accumulate a maximum of 322 flight hours based on the forestry«s requests.
According to data from the government procurement website, in 2025 the Kuzbass authorities paid almost four times less for similar services — 9.8 million rubles ($108,900 at current rates). At that time, the contractor was required to keep one aircraft ready, and the maximum total flight time was limited to 169 hours.
