The russian federation is actively and at a large scale stockpiling Shahed-136 munitions, both ready-made ones delivered from iran and locally assembled from obtained components, the scale of effort evident after the most recent findings.
Defense Express has received information about the numbers inscribed on the hulls of Shaheds that the Ukrainian air defense shot down on the night of February 11th. Out of 45 launched by russian invasion forces, 40 were intercepted, and among them are the K-type and Y-type (К/Ы) drones with batch numbers over 1,600 and 2,600, respectively.
Read more: russia Modified the Shahed-136 Drone Warhead for the Third Time, Incorporating Both Shaped Charge and Incendiary Effect (Photos)
A brief reminder, the "K" marking indicates the so-called "Geran-K" loitering munitions produced in russia, they have some distinct design features compared to the standard iranian-made version thee call "Geran-M." The "Y" marking stands for another variant of iranian manufacture but it has a russian navigation system inside.
The first appearance of the russian modifications "K" and "Y" dates back to July 2023, and now we can with a certain degree of confidence conclude that since then, the russians have produced over 1,600 K-type and received 2,600 upgraded Y-type Shaheds from iran or their parts for assembly in russia. That makes a total of 4,200 Shaheds made, apart from the original M-type which is no longer recorded in Ukraine.
The Defense Intelligence of Ukraine assessed the rates of russian Shahed production at 300 to 350 a month in early 2024. The tempo is not consistent, though, because there are problems with stable supplies of subsystems and components, therefore ups and downs in the output graphs from month to month.
Besides, the expenditure of Shaheds by the russian forces seems to correlate with the weather conditions over Ukraine. Considering the official statistics of shelling from the past few months, provided by the Ukrainian Air Force, russians launched a record-breaking number of over 600 loitering munitions in December 2023, then reduced to 274 in January 2024 and 171 so far in February, when the weather conditions have been less suitable for aerial operations.
Read more: Jet-Driven Shahed-238 Disassembled: Engine From Czechia, Satellite Navigation Tools From Canada (Photo)
