New footage reveals mass manufacturing of Shahed drones at a Russian facility in Alabuga, TartarstanRussian state media through Twitter
On July twentieth,Russian state tv confirmed new footage from the large drone manufacturing facility which makes Iranian-designed Shahed-136s, revealing the sheer scale of manufacturing. The ability in Alabuga a thousand miles East of Moscow has ramped up manufacturing roughly tenfold within the final yr, sufficient for greater than 700 assault drones to be launched in a single night time. That might rise to 2,000 Shaheds an evening by the top of the yr, in keeping with Main Common Christian Freuding of Germany’s State of affairs Middle for Ukraine.
Now plans are afoot for the U.S. to launch drone barrages of its personal, with the Pentagon unveiling a brand new assault drone apparently in response to a presidential request. However is the Pentagon able to compete with Russia in launching mass drone assaults?
When Amount Has A High quality Of Its Personal Tactical “Tomahawk” Block IV cruise missile,, the U.S. alternative for precision lengthy vary assault. US NAVY/AFP through Getty Pictures
The U.S. navy has beforehand favored refined, extremely succesful weapons just like the Tomahawk cruise missile. This can be a 20-foot-long weapon flying beneath 300 ft to keep away from radar at round 500 mph, and delivering a 1,000-pound warhead to targets round 1,000 miles away. It has led the assault in lots of current operations, together with strikes on the Houthis in Yemen earlier this yr.
Within the newest U.S. Navy finances, a batch of 40 Tomahawks price $1.9 million every. That isn’t lots of missiles within the arsenal, particularly contemplating that many might not attain their targets. On twelfth July, Russian launched 26 Kh-101 cruise missiles at Ukraine, together with numerous different missiles and a whole bunch of drones. 25 of these 26 missiles had been shot down by air defenses.
The Shahed has an identical vary and accuracy to the Tomahawk, however flies at 1 / 4 of the pace and carries a tenth as a lot explosive. A excessive proportion of the drones had been shot down in July twelfth too – over 90% — however as these price round $35k every they appear to be a way more cost-effective approach of hitting a goal. Particularly if a 1,000-pound warhead isn’t wanted.The brand new LUCAS assault droneU.S. DoD
President Trump remarked on the necessity for a U.S. equal of the Shahed at a Enterprise Roundtable in Qatar in Might, saying:
“We’re developing with a brand new system of drones as a result of drones are actually … drones actually appear to be taking up that battle… I requested one of many firms, I stated, I would like lots of drones and within the case of Iran, they make an excellent drone they usually make them for $35,000, $40,000.
So I stated to this firm, I wish to see. They got here in two weeks later with a drone that price $41 million. I stated, that is not what I am speaking about, $41 million. I am speaking about one thing for $35,000, $40,000, the place you ship hundreds of them up and that is a good way — they usually’re excellent too and quick and lethal, horrible, really, once you take a look at what’s taking place with Russia and Ukraine.” (My emphasis)
A part of this speech was quoted on a signboard in entrance of the brand new Low-Value Uncrewed Fight Assault System (LUCAS) displayed within the Pentagon courtyard at an occasion attended by Secretary of Protection Pete Hegseth final week.
LUCAS appears very very similar to a Shahed clone, and is billed as “designed to rival Iran’s broadly used Shahed-136 loitering munition, in a push to increase inexpensive airpower choices for contemporary battlefields.”
However the brand new drone will not be all that it appears.
A Weapon, Or Simply A Goal?
LUCAS is made by Arizona contractor SpektreWorks and LUCAS appears very very similar to a model of their FLM-136, a replica of the Shahed-136 made for ‘risk emulation’. In different phrases it was designed as an aerial goal for U.S. forces to get sensible follow capturing down Shaheds.Norma Jean Dougherty, aka Marilyn Monroe, assembling goal drones in 1945U.S. Military
The united stateshas been utilizing goal drones for many years. In WWII an Military photographer captured one Norma Jean Dougherty (later to turn out to be well-known as Marilyn Monroe) on the meeting line for RadioPlane OQ-3 goal drones. Generations of goal drones adopted, together with the Teledyne Ryan Firebee, efficiently transformed right into a reconnaissance drone within the Vietnam Struggle.
It’s apparent why the navy would need a drone goal representing a Shahed. The U.S. Navy got here beneath assault from a wide range of comparable drones launched by the Houthis within the Purple Sea just lately and must follow one of the best methods to sort out them. Nevertheless the requirement for a goal drone isn’t the identical as for an assault drone. The specs of the FLM-136 present that whereas it is a superb substitute for capturing follow, it doesn’t have fairly the efficiency the actual factor.U.S. LUCAS assault drone on show week U.S. DoD
The FLM-136 has the identical dimension and pace because the Shahed-136 however weighs about half as a lot as and carries half the payload. Its vary of round 500 miles is lower than half that of the Shahed.
What we have no idea is the unit price of the FLM-136, which is a key metric. It’s attainable that it actually has been procured for the specified ‘$35,000, $40,000’ however this may be remarkably low by Pentagon requirements. Earlier small drones have been identified to price greater than their weight in gold, and the BQM-167 Skeeter, the Air Drive’s reusable jet-powered drone, prices $1.7 million every.
Presumably the LUCAS is a minimum of lower than ‘$41 million,’ or a Tomahawk cruise missile. However with out seeing numbers we can not know for positive.
Return To The Age Of The Jet BombA sequence of pictures exhibiting the trajectory of a JB-2 buzz bomb throughout take off within the desert, USA, … Extra circa 1945-1950. (Picture by Frederic Lewis/Archive Pictures/Getty Pictures)Getty Pictures
Again in WWII, the U.S. went large on the concept of reverse-engineering enemy weapons and producing them at scale. The Republic-Ford JB-2 ‘Loon’ was a direct copy of the German V-1 ‘Doodlebug’ which carried out the identical roles because the Shahed does now. ‘JB’ was quick for ‘Jet Bomb’. V-1s had brought about super injury in Europe. The plan was to make use of JB-2s to bombard Japan into submission with hundreds of JB-2s with no threat of shedding plane, launching them from the decks of plane carriers from the place they might hit any a part of Japanese territory.
The navy initially ordered 1,000 JB-2, with the identical quantity to be made every month. The mission was canceled when Japan surrendered whereas the primary weapons had been nonetheless on their strategy to the Pacific. In subsequent years excessive precision was the purpose moderately than quantity.
Palmer Luckey, founding father of Anduril, has stated that he desires to see a return to the mass-production method of WWII and “convey mass to the battle.” This implies huge numbers of Anduril’s low-cost Barracuda cruise missile/drones and different weapons moderately than a handful of Tomahawks. However Anduril merchandise weren’t obvious on the Pentagon occasion.
Whether or not the Pentagon is severe about this method, or whether or not they simply needed to indicate the Secretary of Defence that the U.S. may make one thing that appears just like the Shaheds the President requested for, is one other matter.
In the meantime Ukraine is producing its personal low-cost, long-range assault drones and plans to hit Rusia with 30,000 this yr. These embody a mixture of refined sorts and ultra-low-cost designs with our bodies usual from plastic pipe. The drone arms race is effectively beneath approach, and the U.S. is ranging from behind.
