Russian Geoscan 701 Mapping Drone Found Off the Coast of Finland

Off the coast of Finland, in the Pellinki Archipelago near the city of Porvoo, a local resident discovered an unmanned aerial vehicle.

According to a statement from the Ministry of Defence of Finland, the drone was found in the water near a rocky shore, reports Yle. A preliminary inspection revealed that there were no explosives inside the drone.

The country’s Border Guard has launched an investigation into a possible violation of territorial integrity.

Based on an initial visual assessment, the discovered drone is a Geoscan 701 manufactured by the Russian company Geoscan. This information was confirmed by the head of the investigation from the Gulf of Finland Coast Guard, as well as by drone countermeasures specialists.

The Geoscan 701 is an aircraft-type mapping drone weighing between 20 and 25 kg with a wingspan of 3.3 meters. The drone is equipped with cameras for aerial photography, and its maximum flight duration is up to ten hours with a range of nearly 1,000 kilometers.

According to the head of research at Sensofusion, although these drones are intended for civilian use, they have also been spotted repeatedly on the front lines in Ukraine. There, the Russian military uses the Geoscan 701 for aerial reconnaissance, surveillance, and mapping of the terrain.

Border guards speculate that the drone drifted to the Finnish coast with the current, as the aircraft’s hull was heavily waterlogged but remained afloat. The nearest Russian territory is located approximately 120 km from the site where it was found.

Information from the memory cards, which collect coordinates and video data during flight, will be crucial to the investigation. If experts manage to break any encryption and read the storage devices, they will be able to precisely determine the flight path and the targets that were filmed.

The investigation into the possible border violation is being conducted in cooperation with the police and the Finnish Defense Forces. At this time, official authorities are cautioning against jumping to conclusions about who exactly launched this drone and for what purpose.

The manufacturer, Geoscan, headquartered in St. Petersburg, is subject to U.S. and European Union sanctions for supplying drones for the war against Ukraine. Additionally, its affiliates are linked to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s daughter, Katerina Tikhonova, who heads one of the fund’s shareholder entities.

Given the risks of a protracted war in Ukraine and the rising number of drone incidents, Finland is enlisting partners to strengthen control over its air and maritime space. At the country’s request, Sweden is deploying Gripen fighter jets and a Visby-class corvette to assist with border security.

In addition to Swedish assistance, a Polish surveillance aircraft has been joining patrols in the northern part of the Baltic Sea and in Finnish waters since early September.