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Ukraine Shoots Down Russia’s 30,000th Shahed Drone, Slowing Alabuga’s Production Pace
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![Photo of Ivan Khomenko]( "Photo of Ivan Khomenko")
A Russian Shahed-136 attack drone with the serial number “Ы30000” has been shot down, marking a new milestone in the scale of drone production at Russia’s Alabuga facility in Tatarstan.
The drone belonged to the Geran-2 line—Russia’s designation for Iranian-designed Shahed drones. The Cyrillic letter “Ы” in the serial number identifies it as manufactured at the Alabuga Special Economic Zone, according to Defense Express on July 15.
The recovered debris also featured the marking “С3ВК,” which denotes the onboard satellite navigation system. In this instance, the drone was equipped with a 12-channel “Kometa-M,” currently considered one of Russia’s most jam-resistant navigation modules.
Since July 2023, drones bearing the “Ы” designation have been documented in Ukraine. By February 2024, serial numbers had surpassed 2,600, and by December 2024, drones with numbers above 11,900 were recorded.
The latest debris suggests that approximately 18,000 drones from the “Ы” series have been produced in the first seven months of 2025 alone—indicating a sharp acceleration in production rates.
In total, Russia is believed to have produced over 30,000 Shahed-type drones, including variants from multiple facilities.
Drones with markings beginning with “Ъ” and “Э” are also associated with Alabuga, while those labeled “К,” “КБ,” and “КЦ” are produced at the Kupol plant in Izhevsk, which was recently targeted by Ukrainian long-range drones.
While output appears to be increasing, analysts caution against assuming the trend will continue indefinitely. Production may face limitations not at the final assembly stage but due to bottlenecks in acquiring critical components such as navigation systems or warheads.
Defense Express previously reported that internal documents from the Alabuga facility listed the planned cost of each drone in 2023 at $193,000 per unit.
The current unit cost of the Geran-2 remains uncertain. On one hand, Russia has begun integrating more sophisticated—and expensive—navigation systems.
On the other, it has reportedly downgraded some components, including the removal of engine starters in late 2024 to reduce expenses.
If the estimated cost of $200,000 per drone remains accurate, monthly production of 3,000 units would cost approximately $600 million, or $7.2 billion annually.
Projections estimating daily output of 1,000 drones would push this figure to over $70 billion per year—nearly half of Russia’s reported military spending, and around 20% of the total national budget.
Earlier, a report by Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate revealed that Chinese-made components now make up over 60% of the parts found in Russian drones used against Ukraine.
The analysis, based on wreckage recovered in May, also highlighted upgraded navigation antennas and the integration of 3G telemetry systems linked to Telegram bots for real-time battlefield intelligence.
