Russia to Start Domestic Production of Iranian Drones: Ukraine

Russia is reportedly planning to establish a domestic production line of Iranian kamikaze drones including Shahed-136.

"One of the cities, where they plan to set up the production factory is Togliatti. Although there are also other cities,” Oleksiy Danilov, the Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, said during the national TV marathon on Sunday. "Our intelligence works flawlessly, and we understand in advance what steps they are planning to take."

"What they [Russians] will assemble their drones from is a big question," Danilov said, pointing to the fact that the Russians are suffering a shortage of necessary components due to international sanctions.

The Russian Army is actively using Iran-made Shahed-131/136 kamikaze drones against Ukraine, which they renamed "Geran-1" and "Geran-2".

So far, Moscow has received 650 Iranian drones in two shipments. The contract reportedly involves the supply of 1,700 drones in total.

Russian and Iranian officials reportedly reached agreement on production of Shahed drones on Russian soil in early November 2022.

As many as 40 of the 52 components of the Shahed-136 are said to be manufactured by 13 different companies in the U.S. The remaining 12 are made in Canada, Switzerland, Japan, Taiwan, and China.