Russia started last year to produce a new long-range attack drone, the Garpiya-A1using Chinese engines and parts, and which it has already deployed in the war in Ukraine, according to a Reuters report citing European intelligence sources.

The information, which included a production contract for the new drone, corporate correspondence about the manufacturing process and financial documents – said IEMZ Kupol, a subsidiary of Russia’s state-owned arms company Almaz-Antey, produced more than 2,500 Garpiyas from July 2023 to July 2024.

The existence of the new Russian drone incorporating Chinese technology has not been previously reported.

According to the intelligence sources, Russia has deployed Garpiya against military and civilian targets in Ukraine, causing damage to critical infrastructure, as well as casualties.

Samuel Bendet, a fellow at the Center for a New American Security, a Washington-based think tank, told Reuters that if confirmed the use of the Garpiya would mark a departure from Russia’s reliance on long-range Iranian drones.

“The development could suggest that Russia may now it relies more on domestic growth and China“, he said.

Iran has supplied more than a thousand Shahed “kamikaze” drones to Russia since the start of the invasion in February 2022, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenksy said.

They have been used to wear out Ukrainian air defenses and hit infrastructure far from the front lines. Iran has repeatedly denied sending drones to Russia for use in Ukraine.

Russia’s defense ministry did not respond to a request for comment, while China’s foreign ministry told Reuters that Beijing strictly controls exports of items that can be used for military purposes, including drones.

“Regarding the Ukrainian crisis, China has always been committed to promoting peace talks and political settlement,” the statement said. He added that there are no international restrictions on China’s trade with Russia.

NATO’s reaction

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg last week called on China to stop supporting Russia’s war in Ukraine and noted that Beijing’s aid had been a major factor in the continuation of the conflict.

The Garpiya is “very similar to the Shahed” but has several distinguishing features, including a unique bolt-on fin and Limbach L-550 E engines, the European sources told Reuters. The engine, which was originally designed and manufactured by a German company, is now produced in China by a local company, Xiamen Limbach.

Reuters reviewed a contract worth more than 1 billion rubles (10 million euros) signed in the first quarter of 2023 between the Russian Defense Ministry and Kupol to develop a drone production plant.

The intelligence sources said that a former cement factory located in Izhevsk, Udmurt Republic, in western Russia – which was bought by Kupol in 2020 – is being used to produce the drones.

A prototype of the Garpiya was launched in the first half of 2023, company communications showed. Production reached several hundred in the second half of 2023 and more than doubled to about 2,000 in the first half of 2024, the agency said.

A defense analyst said 2,500 drones a year represent a significant part of Russia’s production. Ukraine’s top military commander, Oleksandr Shirsky, said last month that Russia has launched nearly 14,000 drones since it invaded in February 2022, including Iran’s Shahed as well as Russian-made Geran-2 and Lancet drones.

Company documents dating to the second quarter of 2023, reviewed by Reuters, showed that supplier TSK Vektor bought components from Chinese companies for assembly at the Kupol site. 800 Chinese engines were also to be delivered to the new factory where the production line will be ready by the end of the quarter.

The European intelligence agency said it was concerned that Chinese companies continued to supply components that enabled Russian production of large kamikaze drones. “The export of key components to Russia must be stopped,” he said.