Sun 20 November 2022:
Russia has reached an agreement with Iran to begin manufacturing hundreds of unmanned weaponised aircraft on Russian soil, The Washington Post has reported, citing intelligence seen by US and other Western security agencies.
The newspaper said the deal was finalised during a meeting in Iran in early November.
Russia and Iran are moving rapidly to transfer designs and key components that could allow production to begin within months, three officials familiar with the matter said.
The report comes after Iran confirmed it sold drones to Russia but said this was “months” before the start of the war in Ukraine.
The U.S. first revealed Iranian plans to “gift” Russia hundreds of Shahed-136 drones earlier this year and by August 1,000 Iranian-supplied drones were shipped off to Russia before being dropped over civilian targets in Ukraine.
It is unclear which drone design would be employed for production in Russia, but according to the report officials from both nations are working the transfer key components and plans to get the manufacturing up and running within three months.
A reported 400 drones have been dropped over various targets in Ukraine, hitting civilian neighborhoods, villages, cities and the nation’s energy infrastructure.
Russia has intensified its aerial attacks in recent months while its ground forces continue to see setbacks as Ukrainian forces push the front lines farther east.
Ukraine has pleaded with its Western allies since the beginning of the war to help it improve its air defenses – a request that has become ever more urgent given Russia’s heavy reliance on aerial attacks.
US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said this week that he, and the nearly 50 other allied nations that make up the Ukraine Contact Group, were looking to send Ukraine the “right mix” of air defenses and weaponry to stop Russia from gaining air superiority.
SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES
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