Russia has secret war drone project in China, report alleges

Russia and China are engaged in a secret weapons programme to produce long-range drones against Ukraine, a report claims.

A subsidiary of Russian state-owned weapons company Almaz-Antey, IEMZ Kupol, have allegedly developed a new drone model called Garpiya-3 (G3) in China, according to documents seen by news agencyReuters and sources they have spoken to.

The documents are said to show Kupol told the Russian Defence Ministry that it was able to produce drones including the G3 at scale at a factory in China – with the help of local specialists.

Both Kupol and the defence ministry did not respond to requests for comment.

It comes as Ukraine’s presidential adviser Vladyslav Vlasiuk said around 60 per cent of the foreign parts found in Russian weapons on the battlefield in Ukraine come via China.

Beijing has repeatedly denied supplying weaponry or parts to any party and says it is not involved in the war in Ukraine. China's foreign ministry told Reuters it was not aware of such a project, adding that the country had strict control measures on the export of drones, or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).

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Fabian Hinz, a research fellow at think tank International Institute for Strategic Studies, said that if confirmed, the delivery of UAV’s from China to Russia is a significant development in the war.

Samuel Bendett, senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS), said Beijing would be hesitant to open itself up to international sanctions for helping Moscow’s war chest. He added more information is needed to show such a project exists.

“For a factory to exist officially that builds UAVs for the Russians exposes China to some of the more severe effects of the sanctions, so it’s not clear the extent to which China would be willing to expose itself,,” he told Reuters.

The G3 UAV can travel about 1,243 miles (2,000 km) with a payload of 50kg, according to the apparent Kupol reports to the ministry.

Samples of the G3 and some other drone models made in China have been delivered to Kupol in Russia for further testing, the reports allegedly said.

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Kupol has taken delivery of seven military drones made in China, including two G3s, at its headquarters in the Russian city of Izhevsk, according to the two separate documents reviewed by Reuters. They are allegedly invoices sent to Kupol in the summer by a firm that the two European intelligence sources said serves as an intermediary with Chinese suppliers. The invoices, one of which requests payment in Chinese yuan, don’t specify delivery dates or identify the suppliers in China.

The Chinese foreign ministry told the news agency that China has a neutral position over the war in Ukraine, which presented a contrast with other nations with “double standards on arms sales” whom it said had “added fuel to the flames of the Ukrainian crisis”.

Both Russia and Ukraine are racing to ramp up their production of drones, which have emerged as highly effective weapons in the war.

Last week, Russian president Vladimir Putin said his military had received around 140,000 drones in 2023 and that Moscow planned to increase this number tenfold this year.

“Whoever reacts faster to demands on the battlefield wins,” he told a meeting in St Petersburg about drone production.