Russian and Chinese companies are said to be in the process of making Iranian replica drones for use in Ukraine. Initially reported by Bloomberg, the news reportedly comes from unnamed European officials “familiar with the matter.”
According to them, the unnamed Chinese and Russian companies have been in talks since 2023.
If reports are true, the companies will try replicating Iran’s Shahed family of drones. To this end, they have already begun the agreement’s development and testing phase.
According to Bloomberg sources, China has yet to supply any drones to Russia. Providing Russia with a Shahed-style attack drone would signify a deepening of Beijing’s support for Russia, despite repeated warnings from the US and its allies.
China to Copy Iranian Shahed drones
President Xi Jinping has sought to portray China as neutral in the conflict in Ukraine, even as Western officials say it has provided components and other support for President Vladimir Putin’s forces.
Liu Pengyu, the spokesperson for China’s embassy in the US, stated that China does not supply weapons to the parties involved in the Ukraine conflict and strictly controls exports of dual-use items.
“On the Ukraine crisis, it is quite clear to the international community who is calling for dialogue and striving for peace, and who is fueling the fight and inciting confrontation,” Liu said.
“We urge the relevant countries to immediately stop fueling the fight and inciting confrontation,” he added.
Russia has deployed thousands of Shahed drones against Ukraine since the start of the war in Ukraine. It has even established a factory to mass-produce the Iranian-developed technology, which is relatively inexpensive to manufacture but expensive to defend against.
However, Russia still depends on countries such as North Korea and Iran for supplies, as well as on China for critical parts and components. There is concern that China could mass-produce a drone similar to the Shahed much faster than Iran or Russia can, according to officials.
China Breaking Promises?
The officials did not identify the drone under development, but Chinese defense websites and several media outlets have reported that the country is developing a kamikaze attack drone called the Sunflower 200. It is described as similar in appearance to the Iranian Shahed 136 drone.
“China takes every effort, every chance it can get to argue that somehow it’s a neutral player in this war in Ukraine, but in reality the PRC is providing a long list of dual-use components, things like machine tools and microelectronics that are enabling Russia to pursue this war of aggression in Ukraine,”
US Ambassador to NATO Julianne Smith told Bloomberg Television on Tuesday, referring to China by its official name, the People’s Republic of China.
“Here inside NATO, we’re making sure that we can expose the fact that the PRC is no longer a neutral player and warn China about the risk of getting behind Russia in this unprovoked war of aggression,” she said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy also stated at the G-7 summit that President Xi had promised not to provide Russia with weapons. But, if this news is correct, it may seem that President Xi was not being entirely truthful.
Photo: Iranian Shahed 136 drone – Fars Media Corporation/Wikimedia Commons
Sources: United 24 Media; Interesting Engineering