Kamikaze drones are paid for in gold: hackers found out how much Iranian Shahed-136s cost for Russia

The hacker group Prana Network hacked into the email servers of the Iranian company IRGC Sahara Thunder, which facilitates arms sales to russia. As a result, the hackers published a massive amount of data on the production of Shahed-136 attack drones and their cost to russia.

Here's What It Costs

So, initially the Iranians wanted to receive for each kamikaze drone $375 thousand. But as a result of negotiations, the price was reduced. If you buy 6,000 units, the price is $193 thousand, if you order 2,000 UAVs - $290 thousand.

According to the documents, Russia planned to produce 6,000 Iranian drones under licence at its facilities within 2.5 years for 2022. The total amount of the contract, which includes the transfer of technology, equipment, 6,000 sets of UAVs, and software, is $1.75bn.

According to plans for 2023, with full localisation of production with minimal supply of Iranian components, the projected production cost of Shahed-136 should be 4.4 million rubles ($48,800) per unit. But the sales cost is many times higher - Br14.9 million ($165.5 thousand). It seems that this can be explained by covering the costs of licence production, additional expenses and investments in the enterprise.

According to the documents, at least partially Russia makes payments and transactions with Iran in gold. For example, the Alabuga Mashinera organisation transferred 2,067,795 grams of gold in bars to the Iranian front company Sahara Thunder in February 2023, presumably as payment for services and goods.

Source: Militarnyi