Moscow, July 26 (UNI) In the first official glimpse inside the production facility of Russia’s main attack drone factory, Moscow has now chosen to publicize the factory and its contribution to Russia’s war effort.
Standing at the Alabuga factory amid rows of the distinctive black, triangular Iranian-designed attack drones (known as “Geran” in Russian), Timur Shagivaleev, the man behind one of the country’s biggest drone factories, has every reason to feel emboldened.
Instead of shying away from discussing details of the plant, he shows off the construction facility at the site in southern Russia.
Dozens of new buildings, believed to be new dormitories and production facilities, have been rapidly taking shape since the winter snow melted this year, reports CNN.
This is Russia’s main attack drone factory, a key part of the Kremlin’s escalating drone offensive on Ukrainian cities.
To fuel this effort, there’s also now evidence that the site is drafting teenagers, not only into drone assembly at Alabuga but also into construction work, Shagivaleev, Alabuga’s director general, suggests that Alabuga, which has been churning out Iranian-designed Shahed drones for almost three years, has now fully shifted from being an Iranian franchise to a fully localized production line.
David Albright, a former UN weapons inspector, who is head of the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS), told CNN that Moscow’s decision to lift the lid on the factory shows “the Russian authorities are feeling more confident about their ability to make drones.”
Alabuga began producing Shahed drones in 2023 and it now also churns out cheaper versions designed to act as decoys (known as “Gerbera”). The site was already expanding as Russian drone attacks on Ukraine started to ramp up last August and recent satellite images reveal even faster growth over the past few months.
Between late 2024 and mid-July this year, satellite imagery shows at least eight new warehouse-like structures at Alabuga, close to the buildings previously identified as Shahed manufacturing facilities. Several are still under construction.
A July 12 image shows at least 104 identical rectangular buildings either fully or partially built, with a similar footprint to existing structures known to be worker dormitories. In images from February, there were only 15 such buildings. The work on the new buildings appears to have begun in earnest in March. More than half of the housing unit construction visible on July 12 image was not there on June nine.
These buildings could accommodate up to 40,000 workers when finished. which will represent “a pretty substantial increase in drone production.”
However, Alabuga’s current production numbers remain a closely held secret. The plant is producing nine times more than originally planned.
In December, as per a CNN report, Alabuga had produced more than 5,700 Shahed drones between January and September 2024, more than double the number it produced in the whole of 2023.
Evidently, Alabuga is bringing young boys and girls, aged around 15 years, not only into assembly work but construction.
The camp is organized by the “Russian Student Brigades,” which claims to be the largest youth organization in the country and has drafted in about 2,500 students to build a housing complex called “Mediterranean Park” at Alabuga.
