The secret factory in the Russian Federation increases the release of drones and supports the invasion - CNN

As the escalation of the invasion of the Russian troops, more details are emerging about the expansion of the secret plant in the special economic zone of Alabuga, Tatarstan. According to sources of journalists, the plant now produces thousands of baits designed to create a burden on Ukrainian air defense. Satellite images and interviewed experts say that two new buildings have appeared in the territory and the level of safety has increased.

The defense industry of Russia, according to recent estimates of the Ministry of Defense of Germany, is ahead of the European Union for the production of weapons and ammunition four times. Initially, the contract for the issue of Shahd-136 drones or "Geran-2" by September 2025 was calculated on 6,000 drones, but now, apparently, this rule has already been fulfilled.

Last year, Alabuga released 2738 "Shahanedov", and in the first nine months of 2024 this number increased more than twice - in the period from January to September, 5760 Iranian type drones were produced, according to the sources of journalists in Ukrainian intelligence. The Washington Analytical Center of the Institute for Science and International Security, which tracks Alabuz's events since 2022, estimates that 6,000 drones have been ahead of the year.

"They are moving quickly and you see it in all branches of Russian military production," said David Albright, a former UN -weapon inspector who founded the institute. "They do not produce high -tech things, they import what they need for it, but they They can increase the production of what is easier to make, and drones are not so complex in principle.

" Last summer, low -technological false drones have been produced in Alabuz last summer, sources in Ukrainian military intelligence reported to reporters. Herbera drones are made of plywood and foam and mimic the characteristic triangular Shahaneda form. "The Russian soldiers quickly found that Ukrainian air defense is quite capable of knocking down the majority of" Shahmed "," said Samuel Bendett, CNA advisor, non -profit research organization from Virginia.

By the end of 2024, the Production of Herbere is 10 times cheaper than the production of "Shahmed", Yuri Chumak, one of the volunteers Court, said that the radar cannot distinguish real drones from false, but many of the naps seem to be unarmed. It is CNN. At the end of October, the Kyiv Research Institute of Forensic Expertise reported that in the wreckage of Russian drones of Iranian type he found traces of thermobaric ammunition, also known as vacuum bombs.

"If it enters a closed space, that is, in the room, its destructive force there is much higher than that of a fragmentary ammunition,"-explained the chief expert-criminalist Alexei Stepanyuk. The source in the Ukrainian defense agencies reported that there have been cases of "drones with the help of modern anti-aircraft missile systems" recently. In June 2023, the US National Security Council published a satellite shot of the complex and identified two buildings as involved in UAV production.

According to internal documents, Alabuga was the main source that was produced and supplied by Shahd drones by the Russian military. From March to September, two new buildings appeared on the territory of the Russian Drone plant - and the area increased by 55%, according to the analysis of satellite images.

After the attack of Ukrainian drones, OSINT analytics found a grid on the roof of all buildings, it is likely that it is "anti-Drontical" cells designed to protect the object that indicates concern in the growing Russian Federation. From September 2023 to June 2024, 34 Chinese companies "cooperated" with Alabuga, signing contracts totaling about 700 million yuan ($ 96 million), sources in Ukrainian military intelligence reported.

These companies supplied details and materials, production equipment for UAV production, and one even provided muffling equipment to protect Alabuga from drones. Gerbera's drone is a Chinese prototype from Skywalker Technology, which also supplies "sets" for assembly, according to sources. The initial contract for 2000 sets was signed in May, and Skywalker proposed to put another 8,000 in July.