Russia builds a large drone factory and ignores Tehran's needs

Russia builds a large drone factory and ignores Tehran's needs

A Russian journalist expresses in a TV documentary about the largest drone factory des Landes : "Finally something that nobody else has. Such a mass production of two -stroke engines does not exist anywhere else in Russia."

The factory in question, Alabuga, is located 600 miles east of Moscow in the Tatarstan region and is increasingly producing the Iranian Shahed-136 attack drone (known as Geran in Russia). The CEO of the facility, Timur Shagivalev, believes that this could be one of its greatest achievements.

production and progress in Alabuga

"This system is complete", adds Shagivalev in the documentation and explains that most components for the drone are now being produced locally. "Aluminum profiles arrive, the engines are made from this; microelectronics are made from electrical chips; rumps are made of carbon fiber and fiberglass - this is a complete location."

The statement signals that the production of the Backbone of Moscow against the Ukraine now forms in the military industries Russia is integrated. Analysts and secret service officers believe that 90% of the production steps are now taking place in Alabuga or other Russian facilities.

expansion and geopolitical tensions

according to further satellite images expands with new production facilities and Dormitories that enable production to increase exponentially. Analysts that CNN spoke to believe that this growth may be able to enable Russia to export an updated and combat -tested version of the drone that was originally imported from Iran - perhaps even to Tehran itself.

But a western source of intelligence explains that the expansion and complete Russian integration of the Shahed-136 Iran have effectively marginalized, which shows tensions between Moscow and Tehran. They report that Tehran is increasingly impatient with the low benefit it has received from Russia, although Moscow has not only supported war efforts with drones, but also with rockets and other means.

The complexity of Russian-Iranian relationships

This dissatisfaction culminated during Israel's 12-day bomb campaign to the destruction of Iran's nuclear weapons program in June, while the Russia's convictions were seen as poor support for a country that Moscow has helped since the beginning of his extensive invasion in Ukraine. "Iran could have expected that Russia will take more or take more steps without being forced to do so," says Ali Akbar Dareini, an analyst of the Tehran -based center for strategic studies. "You could not interfere militarily, but you could provide surgical support in the form of weapon transports, technical support, mystery exchange or the like."

The distant attitudes of Russia were not surprisingly described by a western intelligence officer with which CNN spoke, since they illustrate the "purely transactional and utilitarian nature" of Russian cooperation with Iran.

strategic partnership and economic challenges

After the raid from Russia to Ukraine in February 2022, Russia began to import Iranian Shahed drones. At the beginning of 2023, Moscow and Tehran signed a contract of $ 1.75 billion that allowed Russia to produce drones in Germany.

The 6,000 drones, which were set in the original contract by September 2025, were manufactured about a year earlier than planned. According to the Ukrainian military secret service, Alabuga is now able to produce over 5,500 units per month and also in more efficient and inexpensive ways.

"2022 Russia paid an average of $ 200,000 for such a drone," explains a source of the Ukrainian secret service. "In 2025, this price was reduced to around $ 70,000." Ukraine also reported that Russia modernized the drone with improved communication systems, more durable batteries and larger explosive heads that make them more fatal and difficult to intercept.

A field of tension between cooperation and competition

The western secret service officer noted that Iran initially seemed to welcome Moscow efforts to localize around 90% of the production of the Shahed 136 in Alabuga, but seem to have surprised the modernizations from Moscow. "This development marks a gradual loss of control for Iran via the end product, which is now largely located locally and independently," said the source. She added that Moscow's end goal was to master the production cycle completely and to free itself from future negotiations with Tehran.

dareini describes Russia's predatory behavior as not surprising and describes the relationship between the two countries as "cooperation and competition". "It is obvious that the Russians want more, ask for more and less, and that also applies to Iran," he explains. "Iran provided Russia drones and technology and the factory, and that was not free."

challenges in working with Iran

But in the course of the expansion process, Alabuga apparently could not fulfill the obligations towards his Iranian partners. According to the officials, Iranian authorities and companies, including Sahara Thunder, have sued that some payments have not been made, partly due to the suffocating international sanctions, from which the Russian economy has been suffering for more than three years.

CNN could not verify this independently. CNN asked Alabuga's administration for a comment, but has so far not received any feedback.

"These obstacles increase Tehran's frustration about the blockages that hinder the transfer of Russian aviation technologies to Iran, which Moscow had promised in exchange for his support," added the official.

could the relationship be saved?

The ceasefire between Israel and Iran has meant that Tehran has largely withdrawn from the international sphere to reorganize itself and to rebuild it during the conflict. In addition to the well -documented damage to Iran's nuclear systems, Israel also aimed at several other Iranian facilities.

DAVID Albright, a former UN weapon inspector and head of the ThinkTank Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS), is of the opinion that Alabuga's expansion could enable Moscow to provide some significant support and to send some of the updated versions of Shahed back to Iran. "Some of [Iran's] drone production facilities have been bombarded and they have fired many [drones], so they could see that as a way to build up stocks," said Albright. "And then Iran could get the technology to produce high -quality shahed."

further military support for Iran?

other military equipment could also be transported to Tehran. Open flight follow -up data show that a military transport aircraft of the type Ilyushin - 76 flew from Moscow to Tehran on July 11th. The IL-76 is a heavy transport aircraft that is often used by the Russian armed forces to transport troops and military equipment, and Gelix Airlines has been associated with the transport of military equipment in the past.

The plane spent about three hours on the ground and then flew back to Moscow. CNN could not confirm what was on board, but Iranian media reported that it was the last components of a Russian S-400 air defense system.

CNN for a comment on the tensions between the two countries, but received no answer. CNN also contacted the Iranian government in both Tehran and its message in Great Britain, but has so far not received any feedback.

These latest developments illustrate Dareini's basic conviction about relationships between the two countries: Although tensions exist, Iran will ultimately also benefit from the partnership. "Iran got that and will very likely get the things it needs for his own security," he said. "Whether it is a military device, economic cooperation, technology or whatever it needs."