The cost of Shahed-136 for Russia has been reported
A group of hackers from the Prana Network hacked into the mail servers of the Iranian company IRGC Sahara Thunder, which contained an array of data on the production of Shahed-136 loitering munitions for Russia. The Prana Network hacker group hacked the mail servers of the Iranian company IRGC Sahara Thunder, which contained an array of data on the production of Shahed-136 loitering munitions for Russia. The data was published online.
On February 4, 2024, PRANA Network announced that they had successfully hacked the email servers of an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps shell company called Sahara Thunder, which promotes illegal arms sales from Iran to Russia. The leaked documents on the localization of Iranian attack drone production in the Alabuga Special Economic Zone, Russia, contained information about the negotiation process, which indicated the volume of production and the cost of drones.
Production
The documents do not directly name the type of the manufactured product. Instead, the drones are referred to in the documents under a special code as "Dolphin 632 engine boat."
According to the papers, by 2022, Russia intended to produce 6,000 Iranian drones under license at its facilities within 2.5 years. The Iranian side announced the starting value of RUB 23 million per unit (£375 thousand). However, during the negotiations, an agreement was reached at the level of RUB 12 million overboard when ordering 6,000 units (£193 thousand) or RUB 18 million (£290 thousand when ordering 2,000 units).
The total value of the production contract, including the transfer of technologies, equipment, 6,000 UAVs, and software, is RUB 108.5 billion (£1 billion 750 million).
Planning
According to plans for 2023, with full localization of production with minimal supply of Iranian components, the projected cost of the Shahed-136 should be RUB 4.4 million (£48.8 thousand) per item. However, this is only a forecast and may be subject to deviations in case of changes in planning and production.
At the same time, the cost of sale, that is, the price at which they will be transferred to the customer, will be RUB 14.9 million (£165.5 thousand). This gap is probably due to the mortgaged payments for linear production, additional costs, and investments in the enterprise.
Payment
According to other published documents, at least part of Russia's financial transactions and payments with Iran are made in gold.
For example, in February 2013, the Alabuga Machinery organization transferred 2,067,795 grams of gold bullion to the Iranian shell company Sahara Thunder, presumably as payment for services and goods.
Militarnyi is currently studying the documents and will later provide a detailed report.