Asger Risom
Russia is no longer just flying drones over cities and battlefields. It is now wiring live animals into its AI systems – and sending them into the sky.
Russia is no longer just flying drones over cities and battlefields. It is now wiring live animals into its AI systems – and sending them into the sky.
In Moscow, a flock of pigeons with neural implants has completed test flights, controlled remotely like flying robots.
Hybrid drones take flight
Neiry, a Russian neurotechnology startup, says it has tested the first flock of “biodrone” pigeons fitted with brain implants and a backpack of electronics. The birds were able to fly from a lab and back under operator control, according to the company’s press service, as reported by Forbes Russia.
Unlike normal quadcopter drones, these biodrones are meant to fly for far longer and over much greater distances, while blending into the environment as ordinary birds. Neiry says some of the implanted pigeons will stay in Moscow while others will be sent thousands of kilometres away to test long-range missions.
The stated goal is to use them for monitoring critical infrastructure such as power lines, gas hubs, and remote facilities where sending crews or aircraft is costly or risky.
How the neural interface works
The pigeons undergo brain surgery in which Neiry’s electrodes are implanted into specific regions. Those electrodes connect to a stimulator and controller carried in a small “backpack” on the bird’s back, along with GPS and other positioning hardware.
By sending short electrical pulses, the system taps into the bird’s instincts, nudging it to turn left, right, or continue straight. Neiry claims “no training is required: any animal becomes remotely controllable after surgery,” arguing that the bird “wills” itself to fly in the commanded direction.
All attached electronics are powered by solar panels on the bird’s back, and Neiry insists the animals “live a normal lifespan” while in service. The company also says the risk of a biodrone falling is no greater than for an ordinary bird, making it safer to operate over cities than a heavy aircraft-style drone.
The same approach can be extended to other species, Neiry founder Alexander Panov told Forbes. Ravens could carry heavier payloads, while seagulls and albatrosses could be used for coastal and open-sea surveillance.
From rats with USB-C ports to ‘neurohorns’ for cows
The pigeon project sits inside a much broader push into invasive neurotech. In Neiry’s lab, earlier experiments produced rats with visible ports on their heads, nicknamed Pythias, whose brains were connected to an AI system to help them answer questions via neural stimulation.
The company has also implanted neurochips in cows as part of its “Neurohorns” project, claiming stimulation of certain brain areas could boost milk yield. Portable surgical kits let Neiry teams perform fast brain operations on farms before attaching wearable neurostimulators to the animals.
On the human side, Neiry has developed EEG headbands and headphones that track focus, stress, and mood, along with in-ear devices to stimulate the vagus nerve. These consumer and medical products all rely on the same core idea: tight feedback loops between brain signals, sensors, and software.
A fast-moving neurotech bet
Panov has publicly said he wants Neiry to become a kind of “Rosnairy,” echoing Russia’s state nuclear giant Rosatom but for the brain. The company has raised more than a billion rubles, acquired two neurotech rivals, and now operates as a vertically integrated group building both non-invasive devices and invasive implants.
Forbes reports that Russia’s neurotechnology market was worth nearly 145 billion rubles in 2024 and could more than triple by 2030, with Neiry positioning itself at the centre of that growth. At the same time, experts quoted by the outlet warn that many of its claims remain self-reported, and that invasive animal implants raise serious questions about safety, ethics, and economic viability.
Neiry says it has drafted its own “neuroethical principles” and even sought blessings from the Russian Orthodox Church for some projects. But its pigeon biodrones, brain-chipped cows, and AI-guided rats suggest that Russia’s neurotech race is moving faster, and further into living systems, than most of the world has so far been willing to go.
Sources: Neiry Press, Forbes Russia
