KYIV - Russia started producing a new long-range attack drone called the Garpiya-A1 in 2023 using Chinese engines and parts, which it has deployed in the war in Ukraine, according to two sources from a European intelligence agency and documents seen by Reuters.
Two intelligence sources said that the Garpiya, which means Harpy in Russian, has been deployed against military and civilian targets in Ukraine.
Reuters found information that reinforces this conclusion, but was unable to confirm the images independently. Iran, which didn't comment for this story, has supplied more than a thousand Shahed "kamikaze" drones to Russia since the start of the invasion in February 2022, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in May 2023.
The engine, which was originally designed and manufactured by a German company, is now produced in China by a local firm, Xiamen Limbach. The company did not respond to a request for comment. The location of the file imagery was verifiable from nearby buildings, roads, and trees that matched street views and satellite imagery.Production reached several hundred in the second half of 2023 and more than doubled to around 2,000 in the first half of 2024, the agency said.
The Garpiya has a take-off weight of less than 300kg and a maximum range of 1,500km, the production contract between Kupol and the Russian defence ministry said – roughly similar to Iran’s Shahed-136 drones that Moscow has used extensively in Ukraine.
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