Free Republic

Vladimir Putin has pulled back the curtain on what has been described as the ‘largest and most secret’ drone factory ahead of a joint naval drill with Iran. Footage – a blend of Cold War secrecy and TikTok-era propaganda – offers a rare glimpse of the Yelabuga production facility in the Russian republic of Tatarstan. Recorded by Zvezda, the Russian defence ministry’s TV channel, it shows the star of Putin’s war in Ukraine – the ‘Geran-2’ drones. This is the Kremlin’s locally branded version of Iranian-designed Shahed 136. -snip- Above the entrance to the factory, a giant screen read, ‘Kurchatov,...

Tyler Rogoway @Aviation_Intel New reality of modern warfare that was anything but unforeseeable: the 'democratization' of long-range precision strikes via cheap, hard-to-spot, hard-to shoot down, and potentially overwhelming 'suicide' drones. And yes, this puts critical fuel and weapons storage areas at risk. Maria Avdeeva@maria_avdv7h Bila Tserkva, 80 km north of Kyiv, was attacked by at least 6 Iranian Shahed-136 drones tonight. This caused a major fire at infrastructure facilities. Reportedly 16 drones were launched from the south of Ukraine in the direction of Odesa, Dnipro and Kyiv overnight. Ukraine Situation Report: Russia's Drone War Erupts Thanks To Iran Russia's Iranian-made...