- Kremlin Pool Photo via AP
Washington – Russia is making big progress in its plans to mass produce an attack drone similar to Iran's that can travel more than 1,600 km to target cities in Ukraine, the Washington Post reported on Thursday.
According to documents on the plans, Russia is building its own version of the Shahed-136, despite delays and sanctions affecting components needed from other countries.
The Washington Post claims to have obtained the documents from a source who disapproved of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and works in the Alabuga Special Economic Zone in the Russian Republic of Tatarstan.
VIVA Militer: Drone tempur Shahed-191 Angkatan Bersenjata Republik Islam Iran
- fighterjetsworld.com
Iran has acknowledged sending drones to Russia. Iran previously claimed to have sent drones before Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
Russia has previously denied using Iranian drones in Ukraine, but President Vladimir Putin has called for his country to increase domestic drone production.
In April, Putin said that the value of Russia's drone industry would soon reach US$20 billion.
The White House said earlier this summer that Russia appeared to be deepening cooperation with Iran and had obtained hundreds of drones (UAVs) from Tehran, which the United States, Ukraine and other Western countries said violated a 2015 UN Security Council resolution.
In June, the White House said that Iran was building UAVs and then shipping them to Russia across the Caspian Sea for use by Russian forces against Ukraine. Since August last year, Iran has shipped hundreds of drones to Russia.
As information, this week, the Financial Times reported that Washington is pressuring Iran to stop selling drones to Russia.
However, a Washington Post report on Thursday highlighted Russia's efforts to build a drone factory in the Tatarstan region, 800km east of Moscow.
Russia is said to be seeking to produce 6,000 drones by the summer of 2025.
Documents reviewed by researchers at the Institute for Science and International Security in Washington at the request of the Washington Post show that the Russian facility is one month behind schedule.
Engineers there are trying to make their version of drones bigger and better quality, and are also trying to improve their capabilities to the point where they can launch coordinated "swarm attacks" against a single target, the Washington Post said.
