A plant in the "Alabuga" special economic zone in southern Tatarstan of the Russian Federation has significantly increased the production of Iranian-designed Shahed-136 attack and reconnaissance drones.
This is reported by CNN, Censor.NET informs.
As noted, in 2023, the plant produced 2738 "Shaheds", and in the first nine months of 2024, it more than doubled this number, producing 5760 drones.
Alabuga also launched mass production of cheaper decoy drones.
CNN writes that Russia uses a number of Chinese components and low-skilled labour - Russian teenagers and African women - to speed up production rates.
The sources, who spoke to CNN anonymously out of fear for their safety, said the plant also produces thousands of "Gerbera" decoy drones designed to wear down Ukrainian defences - the real "Shaheds" and decoys are indistinguishable on radar.
Satellite images analysed by CNN and experts show that two additional buildings have been constructed on the plant's territory and security has been increased. This increased the area of the production site by 55%.
As noted, Russia plans to produce about 10,000 "Gerbers" by the end of 2024, which is twice the number of "Shaheds".
Experts estimate that Russia's defence industry is currently superior to all EU countries in terms of capacity, producing weapons four times faster.
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