China may create a copy of Shahed for Russia: will Beijing risk official cooperation with Moscow

China May Create a Copy of “Shahed” for Russia: Will Beijing Risk Official Cooperation with Moscow Victoria Grabovskaya

Beijing may be developing a new Sunflower 200 kamikaze strike drone for Moscow. It is an analogue of the Iranian Shahed 136 drone.

Military expert, chief editor of Defense Express Oleg Katkov told 24 Channelthat the production of this drone may be an initiative of private Chinese companies. However, it is carried out with official permission from Beijing.

There are objective risks

At the same time, despite the fact that the threat of arms supplies from China to Russia has been talked about since 2022, not a single case of such a supply, at least directly, has been recorded. However, the objective risks that this could happen are quite high.

However, Chinese private companies continue to supply production equipment to Russia, in particular, high-precision machines for the production of weapons. Russian enterprises also receive components from China, in particular, for the production of drones, aircraft, tanks, etc.

This is also is not a secret, but these are not official, but private deliveries. In particular, Russia uses components from civilian electronics to manufacture weapons and equipment, explained the military expert.

It is known that Chinese private companies are directly cooperating with Russian defense, for example, in the field of creating high-distance video communication channels.

Therefore, it can be assumed that a Chinese company, by order directly from Russia, may begin to produce hulls analogues of the Shaheds, which will already be filled with warheads by the Russians, noted Oleg Katkov.

However, the most important question, according to him opinion whether official Beijing, which distances itself as much as possible from military cooperation with Moscow, will allow the supply of weapons and assistance to Russia in general.