The Russian drone factory in the Alabuga special economic zone in Tatarstan plans to produce 6,000 Shahed attack drones per year. In addition, Albatros reconnaissance drones are manufactured in Alabuga, and Russians involve students from Africa in their production. This was reported by The Wall Street Journal, as reported by UNN.
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The newspaper writes that Russian businessmen signed a deal to build a drone manufacturing plant at the end of 2022 when they flew to Tehran with a lucrative offer: $1.7 billion to be paid partially in gold bullion. The unusual terms, confirmed by The Wall Street Journal, citing U.S. security officials, were revealed in February by a hacker group called Prana Network, which claimed to have hacked into email servers linked to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Bild: Іран вперше поставив Росії новітні авіабомби28.05.24, 08:15
According to the contract between Russian plant managers and their Iranian partners, the Alabuga plant is to produce 6,000 Shahed attack drones a year in addition to surveillance drones. According to the International Institute for Strategic Studies, a London-based think tank specializing in defense issues, the plant was ahead of schedule at the end of April, having already delivered 4,500 of the promised Shaheds.
According to Ukrainian military intelligence and a former Syrian officer, Russian soldiers are already undergoing drone training in Syria with instructors from the Revolutionary Guard and the Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah.
However, to expand drone production, Russia needed skilled workers.
In the early stages of Albatross production, students from nearby technical colleges were mostly used, but they were not enough to meet Moscow's ambitions, the WSJ notes. Manufacturers began to look further afield - to Africa.
The salary of students in the Alabuga Special Economic Zone is almost $1,000 per month, which is almost twice the average salary in Russia.
At the beginning of last year, Russian businessmen from Alabuga rented a hall in an elite school in the capital of Uganda and gathered an audience of young female students. They offered skilled jobs paid three times higher than at home in Uganda, as well as an airline ticket, free accommodation, and a university diploma for participation in the work-study program.
Joseph Kazibwe, one of the recruiters, who is also a deputy high school principal, says the Russians are interested in young women who excel in high school science. According to Kazibwe, he did not know that they would be involved in the creation of drones.
"Our job is to find and contact suitable candidates," he said. "After that, the Russians take full control of the process. They don't share their recruitment criteria with us, and we don't know how or who they end up choosing.
У росії заявили про збиття безпілотника в татарстані 23.05.24, 14:36
Since then, more than a thousand women from across Africa have traveled to the Alabuga Free Zone, and another thousand students are likely to join this year's intake, Ugandan officials say.
In promotional videos posted by the Alabuga free zone, students can be seen riding skateboards through the corridors to the sounds of techno. The salary is almost $1,000 a month, which is almost twice the average salary in Russia.