Washington Post Received Evidence of Iran-Russia Collaboration in Manufacturing Shahed Drones
The Washington Post has obtained internal documents about the operations of a plant producing Iranian drones at the facility in the Republic of Tatarstan's Alabuga Special Economic Zone. Its aim is to domestically build 6,000 drones by summer 2025.
The documents, leaked from a plant worker and dated from winter 2022 to spring 2023, reveal close cooperation between Moscow and Tehran, which the latter denies.
Under the deal, the new documents show, Tehran agreed to sell Moscow what is effectively a franchise, with Iranian specialists sharing project documentation, locally produced or reverse-engineered components, and know-how. The Russian side then reproduces the production based on this information, scales it up, and addresses issues related to deficient components and logistics.
The production plan for the Alabuga plant is to be separated into three stages, according to a planning document.
The first envisioned Iran’s delivery of disassembled drones that would be reassembled at the facility. The second called for the facility to produce airframes — the hollow bodies of the drones — that would be combined with Iranian-supplied engines and electronics. In the final and most ambitious stage, more than 4,000 drones would be produced with little Iranian assistance and delivered to the Russian military by September 2025.
A detailed inventory, based on data provided to the Russians by Tehran, shows that over 90 percent of the drone system’s computer chips and electrical components are manufactured in the West, primarily in the United States. Only four of the 130 electronic components needed to build the drone are made in Russia, according to the document.
To keep staffers and lure talent from rival manufacturers, Alabuga boosted salaries, budget documents show, with some key workers earning 10 times the median Russian salary. Management created obstacles to prevent employees from quitting, including seizing passports and requiring workers to seek sign-off before leaving their positions, according to the individual. Central Asian workers who held low-level jobs at Alabuga were sent to Iran because they speak a language similar to Farsi.
Although Russia has managed to optimise the Iranian Shahed design and establish production, challenges have emerged.
The Russians had issues in dealing with the Iranian side. An estimated 25 percent of the drones shipped from Iran for Alabuga's use and delivered by Russian Defence Ministry aircraft were damaged.
Moreover, according to experts interviewed by The Washington Post, project managers warned their higher-ups about a 37-day delay in the schedule as communications with Iran were slowed by the Russian Defence Ministry’s bureaucracy and Iran's failure to provide some technical documentation.
According to Kyiv's estimates, over the last three months, Russia has launched around 600 Shahed drones against Ukrainian targets, with at least some of them manufactured at the Russian plant.
In April, the USA released a satellite image indicating that Iran is providing Russia with materials to build a drone manufacturing plant east of Moscow, which Russia uses to destroy civilian infrastructure in Ukraine.
US intelligence believes that once the construction of the Shahed drone plant in Russia is completed, it could have a significant impact on the conflict in Ukraine.