Russia Constructing Large Underground Attack Drone Factory to Fortified Shahed Mass Production: Report
The underground build could make Russia’s drone production harder to target and adds to a wider expansion that may raise output by 28,000 a year, experts said.
- Russia has begun constructing underground production facilities for Shahed and Geran drones at the Alabuga Special Economic Zone in Tatarstan, according to Ukrainian analyst Dnipro Osint, who estimated about 42,000 square meters of underground area has been built.
- The shift underground follows earlier Ukrainian strikes on the Alabuga site, which serves as Russia's primary manufacturing hub for the Geran-2; the facility expanded by 340 hectares between May 2025 and May 2026.
- Satellite images analyzed by Spencer Faragasso of the Institute for Science and International Security identified a two-ring system of lattice towers around Alabuga's production buildings, while analysts reported five new production halls in the southern area on Sept. 14.
- These defensive measures and underground construction make the site progressively harder to target; the United Kingdom sanctioned 35 entities in May 2026, and the facility remains under European Union sanctions.
- The specific claim regarding underground construction comes from a single open-source analyst and has not yet been independently confirmed through separate satellite imagery analysis near Yelabuga.
76 Articles
76 Articles
Moscow is taking steps to expand its capacity to produce tens of thousands of killer drones it uses in attacks on Ukrainian cities, according to plans of a Russian state company obtained by Politico.
Russia has received a Chinese helping hand in the drone project, writes Politico
Russia is going to increase its carbon fiber production capacity by hundreds of tons. The material is needed to manufacture more Shahed drones. This is reported by the news site Politico, based on Russian blueprints. "There are significant concerns about what is to come."
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