Anonymous ID: c5f930 Sept. 10, 2025, 5:55 a.m. No.23571961   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>1969 >>1971 >>1984 >>1994 >>2075 >>2195 >>2560 >>2586

muh Russian bots

Just a coinkydink

as if the glowniggers didn't supply Ukraine with some Shahed clones so they could run a false flag.

PB

>>23571880 NATO Secretary General statement on violation of Polish 🇵🇱 airspace by Russian drones

>>23571398 Fighter jets are scrambled as Russian suicide drones reportedly enter Polish airspace

 

 

U.S. To Acquire Iran’s Shahed-136 Drone Clones; Aims To Test Counter-UAS Against Kamikaze Threats

By

Sumit Ahlawat -

August 21, 2025

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The Iranian-designed Shahed-136 drones have been an important factor in the Ukraine War. Impressed with the performance of these propeller-driven, one-way, explosive-laden kamikaze drones, Russia quickly began producing these drones locally under license from Tehran.

 

In 2023, Iran permitted Russia to produce these drones as part of a US$1.75 billion deal. Russia introduced substantial modifications in these drones, changing the engines, warheads, and even the color of these drones. In its new Russian iteration, these drones are called Geran-2.

 

Russia is currently producing these drones at the Alabuga drone factory, reportedly the world’s largest drone factory, as well as at an undisclosed facility in Izhevsk.

 

The Shahed-136 drones have now even caught the attention of the US.

 

The US Air Force (USAF) has asked the industry to produce identical copies of the Shahed-136 drone to develop and test defenses against the Iranian-designed system.

 

According to a Request for Information (RFI) posted last week, the USAF wants to buy 16 of these Shahed-136 lookalikes, with the option to buy 20 more at a later stage, to test the ‘next-generation’ of its counter-drone systems against these threats.

 

“The United States Government (USG) intends to purchase approximately 16 counter Unmanned Aerial System (cUAS) drones to support the next generation of cUAS weapons program development and integration. To support weapons development and integration of these weapon systems, the USG requires that the Class 3 Unmanned Aerial Target System be a 1:1 copy (form, fit, and function) of a reverse-engineered Shahed-136 suicide drone,” the solicitation said.

 

The RFI mentions that adversarial countries are currently using the Shahed-136 drones.

 

“This acquisition aims to leverage drones representative of the Shahed-136, which is currently used by adversarial countries and is being encountered in multiple areas of

operation,” it added.

 

The Russian Geran-2 (Shahid) drones form the bulk of the Russian drone assaults on Ukraine.

 

Russia launched a record-breaking 6,129 attacks against Ukraine using Shahed drones this July, up from 5,337 attacks in June. On July 9 alone, Russia targeted Ukraine with 728 drones.

 

In the coming months, Moscow aims to strike Ukraine with a single salvo of 2,000 Shahed drones in a single night.

 

These large-scale attacks have become possible because Russia has dramatically ramped up the production of these one-way attack drones.

 

Earlier this month, Vadym Skibitskyi, deputy head of Ukraine’s military intelligence (HUR), said that Russia plans to produce 79,000 Shahed-type drones in 2025.

 

The Alabuga Special Economic Zone in Russia’s Republic of Tatarstan, approximately 1,100 km (620 miles) from the Ukrainian border, hosts a major Shahed assembly plant. Last month, Moscow released a grisly video of the drone factory, showing rows and rows of matt-black “Geran-2” drones, the Russian-built version of the Iranian-designed Shahed 136.

 

The USAF RFI says that the Iranian Shahed-136 drones are “utilized by the Russians in Ukraine,” are “difficult to detect, fly low, and descend to one hundred meters before hitting the target.”

Anonymous ID: c5f930 Sept. 10, 2025, 6:04 a.m. No.23571984   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>1994

>>23571961

>muh Russian bots

 

>Just a coinkydink

>>23571969

>1:1 copy (reverse engineered) of the Shahed 136 suicide drone.

 

Can U.S.-Made Shahed Clones Compete In Drone Wars?

 

ByDavid Hambling,

 

Senior Contributor.

I'm a South London-based technology journalist, consultant and author

Jul 23, 2025, 05:34am EDTJul 23, 2025, 05:49am EDT

 

A Weapon, Or Just A Target?

 

LUCAS is made by Arizona contractor SpektreWorks and LUCAS looks very much like a version of their FLM-136, a copy of the Shahed-136 made for ‘threat emulation’. In other words it was designed as an aerial target for U.S. forces to get realistic practice shooting down Shaheds.

22M_FALL2024_SecretHistoryOfDrones-WWIITarget_MarilynMonroe_YankArmyWeekly_LIVE

Norma Jean Dougherty, aka Marilyn Monroe, assembling target drones in 1945

U.S. Army

 

The U.S has been using target drones for decades. In WWII an Army photographer captured one Norma Jean Dougherty (later to become famous as Marilyn Monroe) on the assembly line for RadioPlane OQ-3 target drones. Generations of target drones followed, including the Teledyne Ryan Firebee, successfully converted into a reconnaissance drone in the Vietnam War.

 

It is obvious why the military would want a drone target representing a Shahed. The U.S. Navy came under attack from a variety of similar drones launched by the Houthis in the Red Sea recently and needs to practice the best ways to tackle them. However the requirement for a target drone is not the same as for an attack drone. The specifications of the FLM-136 show that while it is an excellent substitute for shooting practice, it does not have quite the performance the real thing.

LUCAS36

U.S. LUCAS attack drone on display week

U.S. DoD

 

The FLM-136 has the same size and speed as the Shahed-136 but weighs about half as much as and carries half the payload. Its range of around 500 miles is less than half that of the Shahed.

 

What we do not know is the unit cost of the FLM-136, which is a key metric. It is possible that it really has been procured for the desired ‘$35,000, $40,000’ but this would be remarkably low by Pentagon standards. Previous small drones have been known to cost more than their weight in gold, and the BQM-167 Skeeter, the Air Force’s reusable jet-powered drone, costs $1.7 million each.

 

Presumably the LUCAS is at least less than ‘$41 million,’ or a Tomahawk cruise missile. But without seeing numbers we cannot know for sure.

 

Also there is no indication that a small outfit like Spektreworks (currently ‘2-10 employees’) could scale up to the thousands of drones per month seen in Alabuga.

 

https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidhambling/2025/07/23/can-us-made-shahed-clones-compete-in-drone-wars/

Anonymous ID: c5f930 Sept. 10, 2025, 6:10 a.m. No.23571994   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>2002 >>2037 >>2075 >>2195 >>2560 >>2586

>>23571961

>muh Russian bots

>>23571969

>>23571971

>>23571978

>>23571984

>LUCAS is made by Arizona contractor SpektreWorks and LUCAS looks very much like a version of their FLM-136, a copy of the Shahed-136 made for ‘threat emulation

 

No formal, direct partnership exists between NATO and SpektreWorks

. However, there is an indirect connection through the U.S. military's demonstration of a SpektreWorks drone, which is part of a broader allied effort to develop countermeasures against threats seen in conflicts like the war in Ukraine.

Indirect NATO connection

 

U.S. allied efforts: SpektreWorks, a U.S. engineering firm specializing in unmanned systems, showcased its Low-Cost Uncrewed Combat Attack System (LUCAS) at the Pentagon in July 2025. This system was developed as a potential countermeasure to Iranian-designed Shahed drones used by Russia against Ukraine. The development of such technology is part of an overall U.S. and allied push to counter adversary capabilities.

Logistical hubs: A 2022 report from Russian state-run media (citing anonymous sources) alleged that SpektreWorks drones were tested at a Polish airport used by the U.S. and NATO as a logistics hub for Ukraine. There is no independent evidence to corroborate this claim, which was made amidst Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Allied interoperability: SpektreWorks' LUCAS drone was developed with theexpectation of integration into both U.S. and allied forces.The company explicitly markets the system's interoperability for use by U.S. Indo-Pacific Command and its allies.

 

NATO's broader drone-related activities

NATO's official involvement with drones focuses on broader programs and partnerships, not a specific contract with SpektreWorks.

 

Science for Peace and Security (SPS) program: NATO operates the SPS program to fund scientific and technological projects in member and partner countries. A recent example is a project to make telecommunications more resilient, bringing together universities and companies from several allied nations.

Commercial space strategy: In 2025, NATO adopted its first Commercial Space Strategy to improve its ability to leverage commercial space solutions. This is an example of the alliance's wider efforts to engage with private industry on emerging military technology.

Counter-drone capabilities: NATO has been actively developing counter-drone and anti-drone defenses, a need that is even more urgent following Russia's use of drones in Ukraine.This aligns with the U.S. development of counter-Shahed technology like the SpektreWorks LUCA

Anonymous ID: c5f930 Sept. 10, 2025, 6:25 a.m. No.23572037   🗄️.is 🔗kun

>>23571994

>Indirect NATO connection

 

SPUTNIK TOP STORIES OF THE DAY

WASHINGTON, December 17 (Sputnik) -

PUTIN-MODI TALKS

  • Russian President Vladimir Putin held a telephone conversation with Indian Prime Minister

Narendra Modi on Friday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

  • Putin and Modi have discussed in detail the prospects for practical cooperation in the energy

field and other areas during a phone conversation, the Kremlin said.

GLOBAL ENERGY MARKETS

  • The Biden administration plans to start refilling the heavily drawn-down US Strategic

Petroleum Reserve with a purchase of 3 million barrels of crude oil in February, the Department

of Energy (DOE) announced in a document inviting US energy companies to tender for the sale.

  • Gas futures in Europe are falling 15% to trade around $1,260 per thousand cubic meters,

according to the ICE exchange.

  • Moldovagaz timely transferred to Gazprom the funds for gas supplies in November and the

advance payment for December, Moldovagaz CEO Vadim Ceban said.

CONFLICT IN UKRAINE

  • The next military aid package for Ukraine is expected to include additional air defense

capabilities, National Security Council Strategic Communications Coordinator John Kirby said

on Friday.

  • Moscow will study with great interest the ideas of former US Secretary of State Henry

Kissinger on resolving the current global situation, as he is a talented, experienced expert,

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

  • Drones used by Ukraine to attack Crimea and other Russian regions weremanufactured by

US engineering services company

Spektreworks, the relevant authorities of Russia said

 

>>>https://efile.fara.gov/docs/6869-Informational-Materials-20221219-678.pdf