i24News reports that Russia is preparing, with the help of Iran, to produce more than 6,000 attack drones by 2025, The Washington Post reported on Thursday. 

According to the information, based on a secret document detailing the drone development plan, Russian engineers are working to perfect the quality of the drones, which were purchased from Iran last month and are used almost daily in fighting in Ukraine.

The construction of 6,000 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) on home territory by summer 2025 will be enough to remedy the Russian army's chronic shortage on the front line. If successful, this new drone factory could help Russia preserve its dwindling stock of precision ammunition, thwart Ukraine's efforts to retake occupied territories, and significantly advance Moscow's position in the drone arms race.

A former high-ranking official of Russia's General Security Service (FSB) has been placed at the head of the program, which is centered on a vast factory in the Russian province of Tatarstan. Engineers and technicians are also involved in the project, and their passports have been confiscated to prevent them from leaving the country. 

The secret document that forms the basis of the information comes from a worker at the factory, who opposes the Russian invasion of Ukraine and has expressed the hope that the information that will be revealed will lead the West to impose further sanctions on Russia and Iran, and sabotage the plan to develop thousands of advanced drones.

To conceal the program's sensitive information, the document mentions "boats" instead of drones; "bumpers" instead of explosives, and Iran is named "Ireland" or "Belarus."

The fundamental principle of the drone development program is to remedy the Russian army's major lack of accurate and effective long-range weaponry. Since September, Iran has transferred thousands of Shahed-136 and Shahed-131 drones to Russia, which are used for direct attacks on targets in Ukraine.

The report also confirmed that Israel's spy agency, Mossad, was behind the drone attack on Iran's military facility in the central province of Isfahan back in January.  Sources told The New York Times after the attack that the strike was prompted by Israel's concerns about the country's security, and not due to potential missile and drone exports to Russia.

This news comes as the United States pressures Iran to stop selling armed drones to Russia, as part of talks on a broader "tacit agreement" between Washington and Tehran aimed at defusing tensions between the two countries.

Source - i24News/X - Image - Reuters