Despite Sanctions, Russia Acquires Rolls-Royce-Level Tech For Mass Production Of Cheap Jet Drones
The Economist in a report on September 1 said the equipment is being used to manufacture turbine components for Russia’s increasingly common jetpowered UAVs, which have emerged as one of the most difficult new threats facing Ukrainian air defenses. Citing a Ukrainian air defence source, The Economist reported that the production advances have reduced the cost of each Russian jet-powered drone to approximately $50,000-$70,000, with prices expected to fall further as manufacturing scales up.
“Ukraine failed to adequately prepare for this threat, but our partners share the blame,” the source stated. The development points to a broader sanctions problem. Despite years of Western efforts to restrict Russia’s access to sophisticated industrial equipment and technologies that could support weapons production, Moscow has managed to establish mass-production lines for jet engines, according to The Economist.
That rapidly expanding supply is creating an increasingly difficult cost equation for Ukraine. Current methods capable of reliably engaging the faster drones include fighter aircraft, short-range surface-to-air missile systems, manportable air defense weapons and automated anti-aircraft guns positioned around critical infrastructure.
Many of those solutions are substantially more expensive than the drones they are being used to destroy. An officer in Ukraine’s air defense command told The Economist that Ukrainian forces intercepted only around 30 percent of jet-powered drones during recent Russian barrages.
Even more concerning, according to the report, some of the drones managed to hit critical facilities that Russian ballistic missiles had failed to destroy during more than four years of full-scale war. Ukraine has been considerably more successful against Russia’s older propeller-driven Shahedtype drones, intercepting or suppressing more than nine out of every 10 in many previous strikes.
