While NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg is still warning of Chinese arms exports to Moscow, according to a report there are already advanced plans between the two countries regarding drone deliveries.
During his visit to the Kremlin, the Chinese chief diplomat, Wang Yi, spoke of deepening cooperation with Russia. According to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, Beijing is considering arms deliveries to Russia. So far, no such deliveries have been observed, but there are signs that China is considering it, says Stoltenberg.
According to “Spiegel” information, the two countries are already so far that the Russian armed forces and the Chinese drone manufacturer Xi’an Bingo Intelligent Aviation Technology are negotiating the mass production of kamikaze drones for Russia. According to the report, the company is said to have agreed to produce 100 prototype ZT-180 drones, test them beforehand and then deliver them to the Russian Ministry of Defense by April.
As the magazine further reports, according to military experts, each ZT-180 should be able to carry a warhead weighing between 35 and 50 kilograms. It is likely to have a similar design to the Iranian kamikaze drone Shahed-136, it is said.
After that, Xi’an Bingo plans to supply Russia with know-how and components so that production can be set up there with a planned capacity of around 100 drones per month, writes the “Spiegel”.
It would not be the first planned drone factory, after all Moscow and Tehran are said to have already pushed ahead with their plan to build a new factory in Russia. The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reports that at least 6,000 drones designed by Iran for the war in Ukraine can be manufactured there. It is the latest sign of a deepening of cooperation between the two nations, the newspaper quoted representatives of a country allied with the USA as saying.
