A shot from Captain Morgan: Russian firms named after English pirates are sourcing Chinese parts for Shahed kamikaze drones
Chinese antennas
The drones in question — the Shahed-131 and Shahed-136 — are Iranian-designed loitering munitions that gained notoriety during the first year of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Their localized Russian versions are named Geran-1 and Geran-2 (which translates to “Geranium” after the eponymous flower).
The drones are manufactured at the Alabuga Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Russia’s Tatarstan Region, where students are actively involved in their assembly. The zone itself is owned by the Ministry of Land and Property Relations of Tatarstan. All drone-related activity there is overseen by Timur Shagivaleev.
In order to evade Ukrainian electronic warfare en route to their targets, these drones require complex satellite antennas, which are often Chinese-made. An analysis of customs data by The Insider revealed large-scale shipments of such navigation antennas from China to the Russian town of Yelabuga, located in the Republic of Tatarstan.