Russia's covert drone partnership with Iran has affected a Russian factory in Tatarstan's Alabugadel Special Economic Zone, the Albatross. The company, known for producing unmanned aircraft for agriculture, has been converted into a war industry to continue supplying the war effort in Ukraine. To give the news the FT.
Albatross reportedly produced drones for the defense ministry, delivering about 50 of them for operations in eastern Ukraine. The factory is part of a larger, ever-expanding technology partnership between Moscow and Tehran to create a nationwide autonomous drone-building capability in support of the war in Ukraine.
In recent months, the plant's activity has increased to such an extent that it has launched a nationwide recruitment campaign for engineers specialized in the UAV sector and people who are fluent in Farsi to translate Iranian "technical documents".
In a recent video released last month, Russia's Defense Ministry showed soldiers in Ukraine launching what they called "Albatross" drones. In a statement to state media, the company said it has supplied 50 M5 drones. The drones look identical to those built at the Alabuga factory.
Last June, the White House released satellite photographs that identified two buildings in the Alabuga area, buildings used by Albatross for the development of Russian cooperation with Iran.
"We are concerned that Russia is working with Iran to produce Iranian UAVs from inside Russia“, said John Kirby, spokesman for the US National Security Council.
According to the White House, Alabuga is a booming industrial site where an Iranian-Russian drone facility could become fully operational early next year. Photos and footage released by Russian social media and local media indicate that Albatross started drone production at the site as early as January. Albatross in a statement said it is a simple manufacturer of commercial drones for agricultural and land mapping purposes.
However, the co-founder, Ilya Voronkov, writes the FT, admitted in some interviews that he supplied the Russian army with drones. He also admitted to purchasing carbon fiber from AlabugaFiber, a nearby firm that later came under US sanctions over its role in Russian military programs. Voronkov said 70 percent of Albatross' components are Russian-made, while other parts, such as the engine, come from China.
International experts argue that the location of the Albatross buildings is very advantageous for circumventing sanctions. She's on the river that flows into the Volga, so it's possible to ship parts from Iran stealthily, and she's very close to Kazan, one of Russia's most important high-tech manufacturing centers.
Iran has already supplied Russia with hundreds of Shahed drones, the so-called suicide bombers, which have been flown in swarms over Ukrainian infrastructure and neighborhoods.
In 2022, Iran set up a drone manufacturing facility in Dushanbe, the capital of neighboring Tajikistan. This factory reportedly only produces the Ababil-2, a light drone that has not yet been identified in Ukraine. Iranian UAVs, including older versions of the Shahed, have been used by Houthi rebels in Yemen and the Ethiopian government against rebels in Tigray in 2021. Nasser Kanaani, a spokesman for Iran's foreign ministry, said last month that the Islamic Republic it did not supply weapons to any of the parties involved in the war in Ukraine and called the allegations “just pure political propaganda”.
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