The Russian military is in talks with Chinese unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) maker Xi’an Bingo Intelligent Aviation Technology to mass produce kamikaze drones for Russia. This is revealed by a report by Der Spiegel published in the issue of the weekly magazine which is out today.
Bingo has reportedly agreed to build and test 100 ZT-180 drones before delivering them to the Russian Defense Ministry by April 2023. Military experts believe the ZT-180 is capable of carrying explosives weighing between 35 and 50 kilograms .
Military experts believe that the design of this drone could be similar to that of Iran’s Shaheed 136 kamikaze drone. The Russian military has deployed hundreds of them in its attacks in Ukraine, where they used Iranian drones. to target buildings and critical infrastructure.
At the same time, Bingo is reportedly planning to deliver parts and know-how to Russia so that the country can produce around 100 drones a month on its own.
“China was apparently planning as early as last year to provide the Russian military with much more substantial support than was known. According to information obtained by Der Spiegel, companies under the control of China’s People’s Liberation Army had planned to deliver spare parts for the Russian SU-27 fighter jets and other models,” the report continues, adding that it is planned to format the shipping documents so that the parts for military aircraft appear as spare parts for civil aviation.
The revelations add new urgency to the debate over possible Chinese military support for Russia.
It is also worth noting that
How does Beijing comment?
When asked by Spiegel to comment on this information, the Chinese Foreign Ministry neither confirmed nor directly denied that negotiations are underway between Russia and Bingo, but emphasized that “the US is the country of origin of most of the weaponry used on the battlefields in the Ukraine”.
However, he continued, the Americans “say from time to time that China can supply Russia with weapons. This is a well-known maneuver,” said the Foreign Ministry, whose response was relayed to Spiegel by the Chinese embassy in Germany.
In Beijing, a representative of Chinese diplomacy returned questions today about the magazine’s report. “There is a large amount of misinformation being spread about this,” Wang Wenbin said. “We should be very wary of who is trafficking it,” he added at the accredited editors’ briefing.
The US this week accused China of planning to supply Russia with weapons to support its attack on Ukraine, which Beijing denied. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz called on China not to cultivate “illusions” regarding the war in Ukraine, recalling that Beijing has so far not condemned Russia’s invasion. He also emphasized that he has told the Chinese government that if it supplies Russia with weapons, Berlin and the EU will consider it “unacceptable” and there will be consequences, a message identical to that of US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken.
According to Spiegel, another industry controlled by the Chinese military is likely to supply Moscow with spare parts for the Sukhoi Su-27 fighter jet.
Source : Naftemoporiki
