Leaked documents show Russia is making progress building kamikaze drones to attack Ukraine.
Russia has set itself the goal of creating an army of drones at a factory in Tatarstan’s Yelabuga Special Economic Zone, writes The Washington Post, citing documents released by a factory worker who said he opposed “Putin’s invasion of Ukraine “.
“It’s the only thing I could have done to at least stop this project or potentially create obstacles,” the source said.
The documents obtained by the editors of “WaPo” cover the period from winter 2022 to spring 2023 and prove close cooperation between Russia and Iran. These include drawings, technical diagrams, personnel files, notes from the Iranian side and progress reports for representatives of the Russian Ministry of Defence.
Russia wants to upgrade Iranian Shahed drones
Documents obtained by the American journalist show that despite delays and difficulties in obtaining parts manufactured abroad, Moscow is “making steady progress towards the goal of launching a variant of the Iranian Shahed-136 drone to produce”.
Russian engineers are trying to improve outdated Iranian technology to produce larger scale and better quality drones. For example, they want Shahed to be able to use it in a swarm and coordinate an attack on a target himself.
Experts from the Institute of Science and International Security in Washington DC studied the documents and concluded that no more than 300 drones have been produced so far and that the entire process is delayed by at least a month.
Moscow’s biggest problem
Russia plans to build 6,000 improved Iranian drones by the summer of 2025. However, Moscow’s main problem is the lack of Western electronics, the supply of which is prohibited by sanctions. Experts therefore doubt whether drones will be produced on time.
Earlier, Iran admitted to sending drones to Russia, but argued that they were delivered before its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
The White House reported in June that Iran was building drones and then sending them over the Caspian Sea for use by Russian forces against Ukraine.
Source: Do Rzeczy
Roy Brown is a renowned economist and author at The Nation View. He has a deep understanding of the global economy and its intricacies. He writes about a wide range of economic topics, including monetary policy, fiscal policy, international trade, and labor markets.
