European and American Traces in Iranian Shahed Drones

Freshly manufactured Iranian kamikaze drones, which are regularly used by Russian troops to strike at Ukraine's critical and civilian infrastructure, are equipped with European and American components.

This was reported by The Guardian.

The publication refers to a "secret document" called "Deadly Squall," allegedly presented to the G7 countries by the Kyiv government in August of this year. According to the report, over the course of three months, more than 600 attacks on Ukrainian cities were carried out using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) containing Western components.

In UAVs of the Shahed-131 and 57 types, as well as the Shahed-136 model with a range of 2000 km (1240 miles) and a speed of 180 km/h (111 mph), 52 electronic components manufactured by Western companies were found.

Among the manufacturers of components for Russian weapons are companies headquartered in the USA, Canada, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Germany, Japan, and Poland. For example, in the "Shahed-136" model, a fuel pump manufactured in Poland was discovered, produced by the German company Ti Automotive GmbH, a subsidiary of British TI Fluid Systems. Additionally, a microcontroller with embedded flash memory and a low-voltage voltage stabilizer with an inhibitor, manufactured by the Swiss company STMicroelectronics, was found in the UAVs.

Furthermore, The Guardian cites "customs information" that reveals that a significant portion of imports to Iran comes from Turkey, India, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, and Costa Rica.

The document "Deadly Squall" also details the supply scheme for Shahed drones, which were first shot down a year ago in the Ukrainian city of Kupiansk. It is reported that the Shaheds are transported to Russia via the Caspian Sea. Tehran transfers the drones to the Iranian port of Amirabad, from where they sail to the Russian port city of Makhachkala.

The Guardian also reports that the Ukrainian side proposes launching missile strikes "on UAV production facilities in Iran, Syria," as well as on a new UAV production plant in Russia, created using Iranian technology.

It is worth noting, however, that the top political leadership of Ukraine has repeatedly emphasized that it does not intend to launch missile strikes on Russian territory using long-range Western weapons, including American ATACMS.

"In the territory of the Russian Federation, we will not use them (ATACMS); we have agreements on this with our partners," said Oleksiy Danilov, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, in an interview with Spanish ABC.

As a reminder, in August 2023, it became known that Russia plans to transfer the production plant for Iranian UAVs of the "Shahed" type to its territory.