Russian forces can launch up to 50 Shahed drones daily - Expert
Illustrative photo: Russia mass-produces Shahed drones (defence-ua.com)
Russia has increased the production of kamikaze drones, Shahed, and can launch up to 50 drones daily, stated Oleh Katkov, the chief editor of Defense Express, in a comment to the RBC-Ukraine YouTube channel.
The expert commented on information that a factory for producing Shaheds in the Alabuga special economic zone assembled 6,000 Shaheds a year ahead of schedule.
“This means the threat is significantly greater than one in 6,000. How can we say how much more threatening it has become? Based on this, the enemy can launch up to 50 such drones daily, or even more,” Katkov noted.
According to him, Russia will continue to ramp up the production of Shahed drones as it is investing money in Alabuga.
The expert recalled that Ukraine has already attacked Alabuga with drones, but this has not forced the enemy to stop operations at the facility. Such strikes need to be systematic.
“Secondly, they should be more powerful in terms of delivering the munitions themselves because it's necessary to completely destroy the production facility. Just breaking through some wall there would only cause them a bit of discomfort, but it wouldn’t stop them from working,” Katkov clarified.
He added that the goal is to destroy a whole group of production sites because “somewhere they produce warheads, somewhere else they make components, and somewhere they manufacture the drones themselves.” Engines are supplied from China, but they are also stored somewhere.
“So, it’s not easy, and you can't just wave a magic wand and solve everything. This is a complex task, and that's why it’s difficult,” he concluded.
Background
Earlier, it became known that September was the first month since the beginning of the war when Russia launched Shahed kamikaze drones daily against Ukraine.
On average, the enemy launched 44 drones per day, while Ukrainian defenders managed to shoot down over 1,107 of these enemy drones.
