According to German weekly Der Spiegel published on Friday, China plans to start large-scale production of Kamikaze attack drones for the Russian army for possible deployment in Ukraine.
Corresponding negotiations have been started between the Russian military and the Chinese drone manufacturer Xi’an Bingo Intelligent Aviation Technology, the newspaper said without citing a source.
Bingo reportedly said it was ready to initially produce and test 100 ZT-180 drones and deliver them to the Russian Defense Ministry by next April.
According to military experts interviewed by the newspaper, this drone model is similar to Iranian-made Shahed 136 drones and can carry an explosive charge of 35 to 50 kilograms.
In a second step, the Chinese manufacturer, which is controlled by the Chinese army, plans to transfer components and its know-how to Russia in order to be able to start producing drones there, according to Der Spiegel.
That would allow Moscow to produce 100 such drones per month alone, he adds.
When asked by Der Spiegel, the Chinese foreign ministry did not respond directly to the newspaper’s information, but instead assessed that “the United States is the main source of armaments for the battlefield in Ukraine.”
“But they periodically say that China could supply arms to Russia. It’s a well-known maneuver,” a ministry spokesman said in a statement from the Chinese Embassy in Germany.
The United States this week accused China of supplying arms to Russia to support its offensive in Ukraine, which Beijing denies. And Chancellor Olaf Scholz called on Thursday evening not to have any “illusions” about China in the Ukraine conflict and stressed that she had never criticized Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.