The Armed Forces of Ukraine named the differences between Shahed drones of Russian and Iranian production.
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Captain Andrey Rudyk, a representative of the Center for Research of Captured and Advanced Weapons and Military Equipment of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, announced this on September 28 at a briefing at the Military Media Center.
In August, the media wrote about the localization of the production of Shahed-136 kamikaze drones in Russia.
“We do not rule out the fact that the Russian Federation, looking for simple technical solutions, reducing the cost of materials and arranging supplies of substitute components, is trying to establish the production of this loitering ammunition and make it mass-produced,” Rudyk said.
Among the changes in the design of the drone, the Center’s analysts note:
- a fundamentally different warhead, which is now filled with destructive elements in the form of tungsten balls;
- changing the country of origin of the power plant (MicroPilot UAV Flight Control Systems MD550 engine instead of Mado MD550);
- modification of the body (instead of a solid-cast one, a composite fuselage with foam-type filling is used);
- use of the new KST X30-12-165 servo drive;
- implementation of the Russian-made Comet block in the navigation system.
Rudik noted that drones are not fundamentally different from earlier models, and in identifying the differences they are of a “cosmetic” nature and are due to the desire to reduce the cost of production.
The main countries of origin of the components of the Russian version of the kamikaze drone are China, Switzerland and the United States.
The components have a production date between 2020 and 2023. Investigators from Conflict Armament Research documented that twelve components were manufactured after the invasion began in February 2022.
Moreover, all Russian components that were used in the UAV were made from January to March 2023.
It is known that the production of the Russian version of Shahed is taking place in the Alabuga special economic zone in Tatarstan.
Within 2-3 years, Russia wants to replace a significant part of the components, train people and organize the technological process.
The total cost of the project is estimated at 115-130 billion rubles ($1.28-1.45 billion).
Source: Racurs
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.