From engines to gyroscopes: how China is helping Russia improve its “Shaheeds”
Ілюстративне фото
Russia has begun using new jet-powered modifications of the Shahed attack drones, which can accelerate to about 500 km/h. According to Western journalists, Chinese components played an important role in the emergence of such drones.
This is reported by The Wall Street Journal.
The publication notes that Chinese companies have long remained one of the key sources of parts for Iranian and Russian drones.
The new jet version of the Shahed is almost three times faster than previous modifications, making it more difficult for Ukrainian air defense forces to detect and destroy such targets in a timely manner.
According to the WSJ, Chinese servo motors, gyroscopes and other components are used in the production of drones. A separate role is played by turbojet engines, which are necessary to significantly increase the speed of the drone.
Journalists also pay attention to the origin of the technologies for such engines. Iranian developers once took the German Limbach L 550 E as a basis. In 2017, the German manufacturer was acquired by a Chinese company, after which Tehran received wider access to the relevant technologies and the opportunity to create its own engine variants using cheaper Chinese parts.
The article also mentions the Chinese company Telefly Telecommunications Equipment. According to the WSJ, it supplied turbojet engines for attack drones.
After Ukraine reported the discovery of Telefly components in downed Russian drones, information about the relevant engines disappeared from the English version of the company’s website. At the same time, Chinese-language information, as the publication notes, remained available.
Thus, the supply chain formed with the participation of Chinese manufacturers helped Iran, and later Russia, develop the production of faster attack drones. For Ukraine, this means the emergence of a new threat to which air defense systems need to respond in much less time.
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