Russia's purchase price for Iranian Shahed-136 drones revealed
It became known how much Russia is buying the Shahed-136 from Iran (Photo: defence-ua com)
The Russian Federation was purchasing Iranian Shahed drones at a lower cost than previously thought, reports ICNA.
It is known that the email servers of the Iranian company IRGC Sahara Thunder were hacked by a group of hackers called Prana Network. The servers contained data regarding the production of Shahed-136 strike drones for Russia.
In the published documentation on the localization of Iranian drone production in the special economic zone Alabuga in Russia, there were details about the negotiation process, including the production volumes and cost of the drones.
Russia buys Iranian Shahed drones at a lower cost than expected (Photo: ICNA)
What was in the documents
The documents did not explicitly specify the type of product being manufactured. However, the drones were referred to under a special code name as Dolphin 632 type motor boat.
The papers indicated that as of 2022, Russia planned to produce 6000 Iranian drones within its facilities over 2.5 years.
Initially, Iran declared that the starting price for one drone was 23 million rubles (approximately 375 thousand dollars). However, during negotiations, the parties agreed on a price of 12 million rubles per drone for an order of 6000 units (193 thousand dollars) and 18 million rubles (290 thousand dollars) for an order of 2000 units.
Russia buys Iranian Shahed drones at a lower cost than expected (Photo: ICNA)
From this, it follows that the total production cost of 6000 sets of UAVs amounts to 108.5 billion rubles (1.75 billion dollars). This sum includes the transfer of technology, equipment, and software.
Drone production
However, in 2023, when drone production was localized and had a minimal supply of Iranian components, the cost of one Shahed-136 was projected to be 4.4 million rubles (48.8 thousand dollars) per unit.
It's worth noting that these figures are forecasts and may vary depending on changes in planning and production.
Russia buys Iranian Shahed drones at a lower cost than expected (Photo: ICNA)
Payment for the drones
In the published documents, it is indicated that Russia, at least partially, conducts its financial operations and payments with Iran in gold. Specifically, the organization Alabuga Machinery transferred 2,067,795 grams of gold bars to the Iranian proxy company Sahara Thunder in February 2023. Presumably, this was payment for services and goods.
Modification of the Iranian drone Shahed
It has recently been revealed that a new modification of the Shahed-136 strike UAV has been presented in the Iranian capital Tehran, named Shahed-238. It was presented in three versions with different targeting systems.
The Air Force has noted that the modified Shahed-238 UAV is more difficult to detect as a target due to its unique features.
Meanwhile, according to Ihnat, Ukraine is in a better position regarding drones compared to Russia, particularly due to the availability of Western technologies.
