Kremlin spooks have secured a deal to mass-produce Iranian Kamikaze drones in Russia. As well as buying the Geran suicide drones to launch against civilian targets in Ukraine, Moscow has pledged to build a new factory in Tatarstan. It is believed plans for the manufacturing complex are already under way and it will produce 6,000 Unmanned Aerial Vehicles.
The new drones are said to be more sophisticated than previous Iranian suicide craft, with in-built technology to avoid electronic jamming. The new variant will be more deadly according to intelligence sources as it will be packed with tungsten pellets to boost the device’s lethality.
Russian forces have been daily launching drone attacks from the frontline all the way to cities in central Ukraine. In its recent onslaught on Ukraine’s southern ports Russia used more than a dozen of the drones in a four-hour attack on the towns of Reni and Izmail.
This attack destroyed grain warehouses and other civilian facilities and was part of a bid to destroy Ukraine’s agricultural exports. Scores of the drones have also been used to target civilian targets, most of them shot down by Ukraine’s air defences.
British sources have revealed the drones, called Shahed by Iranians, can be mass made for as little as £20,000 each or perhaps less. This means the deadly devices will save money as Russia’s war chest is being crippled by sanctions and the daily cost of waging war against Kyiv.
It also may have sinister implications for Ukraine’s defences as each missile can cost £100,000 and £450,000 for them to shoot down. If Russia fires multiple batches of low-flying drones Ukraine’s National Advanced Surface to Air Missiles have to be used. And firing these can cost £450,000 a-time to fire. One source said: “Producing these drones inside Russia is cost effective as they can literally drain Ukraine’s resources every time they are fired.”
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