Hackers disclose cost, other details on Iranian drones sold to Russia

Hackers from the PRANA Network group have released a series of documents obtained from the email servers of the Iranian company IRGC Sahara Thunder.

The documents reveal interesting details about the entire process of cooperation between Russia and Iran in the direction of Shahed-136 kamikaze drones, including the localization of production. These data essentially clarify all the details, for example, regarding the cost of Shahed and a series of other details, the Ukrainian-based Defense Express reported on February 8.

You can familiarize yourself with the complete list of files by following the link, reported by the Iran Cyber News Agency.

This data, which is nearly 10Gb of files, includes contracts of multi-million dollar deals, payments with gold bars, plans for UAVs, details of an agent in the UAE called GENERATION TRADING FZE, and a company called Alabuga. It also contains bank account details, factory layouts, etc., as mentioned in the report.

In one of the files, there is information about the visit of the delegation from Alabuga to Iran for the purpose of purchasing "Dolphin 632-type boat production technology" (also known as Shahed-136 for local production in 6000 units).

It should be noted that such a quantity has already been mentioned in the media, and information has previously emerged that the Iranian-Russian Shahed production program was indeed referred to under the code name "Project Boat."

One interesting nuance is that due to the threat of airstrikes, Iranian plants have their "doubles" scattered across the country, and the final assembly takes place in a secret tunnel located under the mountain. It is noted that the Russian delegation visited aviation electronics, engine, airframe plants, assembly production, and conducted quality control.

The file contains information on the schedule for the full localization of Shahed production in the territory of the Russian Federation.

The supply schedules for components look as follows:

• During the first three months: 100 sets per month.
• From the fourth to the 30th month: 211 sets per month (the full volume of spare parts for 6000 drones over 30 months).

After completing all the technology transfer processes, there are plans to scale up production to 10,000 drones per year. It has been determined that 160,000 square meters of ready-made production sites are needed for manufacturing. Additionally, the contract includes training for 300,000 person-hours in Iran and an equal amount in Alabuga.

The Iranian side initially set the base price for the Shahed attack drone at 23 million rubles per unit (approximately US$375,000). However, negotiations led to an agreement for a reduced rate of 12 million rubles per unit when ordering 6,000 units (about US$193,000) or 18 million rubles (about US$290,000) for orders of 2,000 units.