The company will produce 6,000 drones a year A kamikaze drone factory may appear in Yelabuga - the American Wall Street Journal writes about this.
According to the newspaper, in January, a delegation from Iran visited the city in Tatarstan, which will help launch the production of drones. The plant's capacity will be 6,000 drones per year, it will produce faster and longer-range versions of Iranian Shahed-136 UAVs. The United States has repeatedly stated that Tehran supplies them to Moscow for use in a special operation. The Kremlin denied these reports.
Moscow and Tehran intend to build a joint plant for the production of combat drones that will be used in the special operation zone in Ukraine. This is reported by The Wall Street Journal with reference to high-ranking officials close to the United States.
According to the WSJ, the Iranian delegation was represented by Brigadier General Abdollah Mehrabi, who heads the Air Force in the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, and Gasem Damavandian, executive director of the Iranian company Quds Aviation Industry, a key developer and manufacturer of combat drones in the country.
The US authorities warned about the negotiations between Moscow and Tehran on the creation of a joint production of combat UAVs back in December last year. Now, as the newspaper reports, the negotiations have taken shape in concrete plans. On January 5, the Iranian delegation visited Yelabuga, where they inspected the wasteland on which the plant will be built.
At the same time, the authors of the publication note that the new enterprise and its products will not affect the current balance of power in Ukraine and the expected offensive of Russian troops in the spring, since the construction of a plant for the production of combat drones will take considerable time. However, the newspaper does not exclude that UAVs may be used by Moscow in other conflicts or exported.
According to WSJ sources, the construction of the plant is part of a $1 billion deal between Russia and Iran. Within its framework, Moscow allegedly supplies Tehran with Western weapons captured in the battles in Ukraine.
In addition, the publication reported that on January 6 - the day after it became known about the visit of the Iranian delegation to Yelabuga - the United States imposed personal economic sanctions against the director of Quds Aviation Industry Damavandyan.
At the end of 2022, Russia began to actively use kamikaze drones "Geran-2" in the zone of its defense - they were used, in particular, for strikes on energy infrastructure facilities. Ukrainians call these drones "mopeds" for the characteristic loud sound made during flight.
Washington and its European allies claim that the Geranium-2 is a copy of the Iranian Shahed UAV series. The US authorities have repeatedly reported that Iran supplies these drones to Russia. Moscow and Tehran denied such statements.
The Shahed-136 is considered a slow-moving and highly visible drone. It is equipped with two two-stroke engines of 50 hp each - it is because of them that it emits a "moped" sound that can be heard for several kilometers. According to various sources, the drone has a flight range from 1000 to 2000 km and a cruising speed of 150-170 km / h. It can fly at an altitude of 60 to 4000 meters.
The warhead of the Shahed-136 ranges from 40 to 50 kg - the drone explodes when it collides with a target. Western experts note that despite its slow speed, the drone poses a danger to unprotected objects, as well as air defense systems - it is difficult to detect due to its triangular shape and shoot down due to the low altitude. In addition, the cheapness of the UAV (about $ 20 thousand) makes its use more profitable than strikes with high-precision cruise missiles.
According to the Armed Forces of Ukraine, since the autumn of last year they have shot down more than 500 Shahed-type drones.
Mikhail Kotlyar
