Ukraine produces dozens of Shahed drone analogs per month

16 November, 2023 Shahed-136 loitering munition. Illustrative photo The Ukrainian defense industry has started mass production of drones similar to Iran's Shahed-136.

Oleksandr Kamyshin, Minister of Strategic Industries, announced this. According to the Minister, the Ukrainian defense industry has now launched mass production of dozens of kamikaze drones per month. He noted that these are new drones that have not been publicly presented before.

"Starting with what is called 'Ukrainian Shahed,' we don't share the name of this product, but we have started mass production of it and now [produce] dozens of them a month, continuing with many other items that we used to produce very little of, and now we have decent numbers," Kamyshin added.

Illustrative photo of the Ukrainian Bober kamikaze drone in the sky over Moscow

Presumably, by "analogous to the Shahed drone," the Head of the Ministry means an unmanned aerial vehicle with an appropriate warhead and range. It is worth pointing out that the Iranian drone is capable of delivering between 40 and 50 kilograms of explosives over a distance of 1000-2000 km. In addition, this term could also describe a drone control method, namely autonomous movement using an inertial system with correction for GPS signals.

Production growth

Kamyshin noted that a multi-fold increase in production does not always satisfy the government.

"We are satisfied with tenfold growth or more. We have such growth in many areas," he said. The Minister explained the multi-fold increase in production by the successful integration of business with Ukroboronprom, where the state supports private manufacturers.

"Today, many drone manufacturers have seen an opportunity at one of the state-owned plants to discover resources that they cannot find on their own," he explained. The Minister cited cooperation when a service center at a state-owned plant helps small private drone companies with their work. According to Kamyshin, this is an example of how the state assists the development with its resources.

"In this regard, the Ukrainian Shahed drone came from a state-owned plant," the minister said.