Russia Reportedly Deploys New, Domestically Developed Drones With Chinese Engines

Unnamed European intelligence officials claimed that Russia has developed – and employed – a new drone called Garpiya-A1 using Chinese engines and parts against Ukraine.

The drones reportedly resemble the Iranian Shahed drones in design, with a unique bolt-on fin and Limbach L-550E engines manufactured by Xiamen Limbach, likely the Chinese subsidiary of German engine manufacturer Limbach Flugmotoren, according to Reuters.

The unnamed officials shared the information – including alleged contracts, financial documents and company correspondence – with Reuters and requested that their agency not be named due to the sensitivity of the information.

Reuters, citing the sources, said the Garpiya drones, named after the Harpy eagles in Russian, were produced by IEMZ Kupol, a subsidiary of Russian state-owned weapons maker Almaz-Antey, with a total production number of more than 2,500 units between July 2023 and July 2024.

The report said production began at a factory in the Russian city of Izhevsk last year, and it named two Shenzhen-based companies – Juhang Aviation Technology and Redlepus Vector Industries – for supplying parts such as aircraft engines, transistors, electronic modules, connectors, plugs and sockets to Russia.

The two intelligence sources told Reuters the Garpiya drones have already been used against military and civilian targets in Ukraine, with recorded casualties.

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The officials also reportedly provided Reuters with images from Ukraine of the wreckage, to which Reuters said it “found information that reinforces this conclusion, but was unable to confirm the images independently.”

There had been reports in 2023 that Russia sourced engines for its kamikaze drones from AliExpress, a Chinese eCommerce platform. However, the latest report – if proven – could mean established cooperation on the enterprise level between Chinese and Russian manufacturers in weapons production, further insinuating speculations that Beijing passively supports weapons developments in Russia through the private sector.

That said, Beijing told Reuters that it strictly controls the export of components with potential military applications and maintained its neutral stance on the war in Ukraine in response to a Reuters inquiry.

Ukraine has not previously mentioned or acknowledged the drone’s existence; Kyiv Post’s sources within Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence (HUR) said the information is “being verified” upon inquiry.

The timing of the Reuters report coincided with US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell’s earlier statement this week that Beijing has been aiding Moscow with military development and production in exchange for advanced technologies. However, it’s unclear if Campbell was referring to the Garpiya-A1 drones.

Bloomberg reported in July that Russian and Chinese companies were allegedly developing drones similar to the Iranian Shahed kamikaze drones together.

In April, the Financial Times (FT) also reported that China was allegedly working with Russia to “jointly produce drones inside Russia,” citing comments from senior US officials.