China has continued to contribute to Russian increases in its production of long-range drones, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) reported on Monday.
Russia has significantly increased its domestic production of Shahed-type drones, “including Gerans (Russian Shahed analogs), Garpiyas (Shahed analogs with PRC components), and Gerberas (decoy Shahed variants),” the US-based think-tank’s analysts reported.
It noted that Moscow primarily produces Shahed-type drones at the Alabuga Special Economic Zone (ASEZ) in the Republic of Tatarstan and recently opened a new production line for Shahed-type drones at the Izhevsk Electromechanical Plant where Russia already produces Garpiya drones.
The analysts contend that Russia has recently made significant investments in the development of the drone factory in Alabuga, supporting the factory’s infrastructure and hiring women, children, and foreigners to work at the enterprise.
“Russia increasingly relies on China for the supply of components for drones and without these components will not be able to maintain the pace and volume of production of Shahed-type drones,” ISW analysts wrote.
The Institute also drew attention to a recent investigation by the Ukrainian organization Frontelligence Insight, which showed that Alabuga alone depends on China for at least 41 components for the production of its long-range strike drones, including engines, electronic and mechanical components, batteries, antennas, radio stations, coal fuel units, carburetors, and telecommunications components.
The organization estimates that many of the drones that Russia claims are manufactured domestically are in fact only assembled there, given the large number of Chinese-made parts used in these drones.
In addition, Russia has opened a special logistics center in Alabuga to receive and process freight trains directly from China, presumably to optimize the delivery of Chinese parts for the production of drones in the special economic zone.