500 Kamikaze Drone Strikes Per Day: How Russia’s Expanding Production is Reshaping the Battlefield
Eastern Europe and Central Asia , Aircraft and Anti-Aircraft
Russia’s defence sector has since mid-2022 continued to significantly expand its capacity to produce single use ‘kamikaze’ attack drones, after first establishing this capability with Iranian support to manufacture the Shahed 136 drone under license. An increasingly central factor shaping the balance of power not only in the Ukrainian theatre, but also also between Russia and NATO more broadly, has been the defence sector’s successes in further increasing output of such drones, with The Economist having recently revealed that output of Shahed 136 drones has increased more than tenfold from 300 a month, to over 100 per day. Information obtained by the London-based paper further highlighted that Russian industry is on track to be able to produce up to 500 of the aircraft per day, which would allow for strikes using over 1000 of the aircraft to be launched several times per week. Cost reductions due to the benefits of economies of scale have been a further important factor which could allow for such attacks, with drones previously being estimated to cost approximately $35,000 each, while some sources have indicated that costs could fall to well under $30,000. To place this in perspective, a single surface-to-air missile from the MIM-104 Patriot system NATO members have provided to Ukraine costs approximately $3.8 million.
A day after Russia launched a large scale strike involving 298 drones and 69 missiles against Ukrainian targets on May 26, the London-based Financial Timesreported that Russian industry had succeeded in drastically expanding production of drones, ballistic missiles and cruise missiles, allowing it to comfortably sustain intensified rates of attacks on Ukrainian targets without depleting its stockpiles. “Russia is now producing missiles and drones faster than it uses them, building up stockpiles and increasing pressure on Ukraine's stretched defences,” it observed, highlighting that the fallout from this was exacerbated by the dwindling of Ukraine’s air defences and the West’s struggles to replenish them. Russia had ten days prior on May 17 launched its largest drone attack to date against Ukrainian and allied targets, using 273 Shahed 136 drones and decoys.
Shahed 136 drones made their combat debut in the Ukrainian theatre in September 2022 and quickly emerged as one of the Russian Armed Forces’ most valued strike assets. Their low costs allow them to be used to swarm targets, and to strike low level tactical targets that would not be feasible for ballistic or cruise missile attacks. While North Korea has been by far Russia’s greatest military supporter, Iran’s drone supplies have otherwise been by far the most significant contribution of armaments any country is known to have made to the war effort. The increasingly central role played by single use drones has led them to be considered to be among the most transformational assets in the conflict.
The Russian Empire's last throw of the dice.
ReplyDeleteIf they they fail to break Ukraine's defences , the dismemberment of Russia into a dozen unstable -Tans could be well in motion..
Putin would end up ruler of just Moscow-Tan
With Trump as a POTUS, there is a high % that yankeeland would break into multiple states before Russia.
ReplyDelete天下大势，分久必合，合久必分。
ESPECIALLY true for those pirate cultures, who have NEVER ever been a part of a truly united empire.