Share of Chinese electronics in Shahed drones grows to 65% – Ukrainian intelligence

Defence Intelligence of Ukraine has noted a trend towards replacing Western components in Russian strike UAVs with Chinese-made ones.

Source: Defence Intelligence of Ukraine in response to an inquiry from Donbas Realii, a Radio Liberty regional project

Details: In particular, in the Geran-2 UAV (one of the names of the Shahed drone in Russia), discovered in May 2025, the share of electronic components manufactured in China has increased to 60-65%, pushing US components into second place for the first time. Swiss electronics are in third place. 

Russian-made strike drones, among other things, have new electronic warfare-resistant antennas instead of the jamming-resistant antennas of satellite navigation systems. In addition, they have more antenna elements. Instead of four and eight elements, 12 and 16 elements are being installed.

"One of the innovations is the use of 3G modems in UAVs, which provide information about their location and telemetry to a Telegram bot so that the enemy can analyse the locations of our electronic warfare and air defence systems," a Defence Intelligence representative said.

He said that the range of warheads is also expanding. In particular, there are cases of using Geran-2 drones with a system for dropping slow-acting cluster munitions. The weight of the Russian and Iranian-made warheads themselves is increasing to 90 kilograms.

Measures have been taken to increase the moisture resistance class of strike UAVs so that they can be effectively used in difficult weather conditions. Tests of a version of the Geran-3 strike UAV with a jet engine have also been recorded. 

Background:

• After another large-scale Russian attack on Kyiv on 4 July, the Security Service of Ukraine released photos showing Chinese-made components found in the Russian-made Geran drone. The photo shows the date 23 May 2025 engraved on the body of the Russian drone, which may indicate the exact date of manufacture of this particular asset.
• Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha noted that this is ironic, as the Chinese-made components were discovered after another air attack on Ukraine, when the building of the Chinese Consulate General in Odesa was damaged as a result of Russian strikes on the city.
• President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on the sidelines of the NATO summit on 24 June that no important Russian weaponry is produced without components, equipment or materials from abroad.

Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon!