| | | Russia is already experiencing several failures in the first shipment of drones from Iran, reports say
Mia Jankowicz
Tue, August 30, 2022
A view of a drone during a military exercise in an undisclosed location in Iran, in this handout image obtained on August 24, 2022Iranian Army/WANA handout via Reuters
Russia is having problems with the drones it received from Iran, according to multiple reports.
Russia took delivery of dozens of Iranian-made UAVs on August 19, The Washington Post reported.
Russia has been playing catch-up with its drone capacities, and has few places to turn to buy them.
The first batch of drones that Russia received from Iran is already having technical difficulties, according to multiple reports.
On August 19, dozens of Iranian-made unmanned aerial vehicles, which are already malfunctioning, were transported to Russia, The Washington Post reported.
US officials said in July that they learned Iran was preparing to provide up to several hundred of the drones to aid Russia's war effort in Ukraine, with national security advisor Jake Sullivan saying they were being prepared on an "expedited timeline."
It's unclear whether the offer was a gift or if Russia was to buy them, and Iran denied the US' claims at the time.
Russian officials visited Iran twice that month to see the drones, the Associated Press reported, citing US officials.
But the rollout has not been smooth.
Officials said that early Russian tests had seen multiple failings in the technology, per The Post.
"There are a few bugs in the system," an unnamed security official from a Western-allied government told The Post.
"The Russians are not satisfied," the official said.
Reuters also cited an unnamed senior US administration official as saying that Russia had experienced "numerous failings" with the drones.
According to Reuters, the drone models are the Shahed-series and the Mohajer-6, both of which are made in Iran.
Russia has been slow to develop its combat-drone capabilities, The Post noted. Sanctions have made it difficult to buy the technology elsewhere, with China's major manufacturer shying away from selling them to either Russia or Ukraine avoid getting embroiled in the war, as Reuters reported in April.
That problem was compounded by Ukraine's early — and unexpectedly fierce — defense, helped in large part by using a wide range of drones against Russia's ageing supply of tanks.
But Russia began to turn the tide by early July, as Insider's Alia Shoaib reported, jamming and shooting down Ukrainian drones and developing its own capacities.
It even appears to have evaded international sanctions in manufacturing its own drones — a stripped-down Russian drone captured by Ukraine was revealed to have numerous western parts inside, as CNN reported in July.
The most recent US aid package to Ukraine included counter-drone systems known as VAMPIRE rockets, whose laser-guided missiles can shoot drones out of the sky. The highly mobile kit can be operated by two people and easily set up on the back of a truck.
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