It's official: China assists Russia in production of one of UAV models, says HUR

The People's Republic of China is promoting the production of Harpy-A1 attack drones in Russia, said in response to a request LIGA.net the Main Intelligence Directorate (HUR).

The HUR is aware of the fact that Beijing is assisting in the production of the Harpy-A1 UAV at the facilities of the Izhevsk Electromechanical Plant Kupol JSC (a subsidiary of the Almaz-Antey arms company).

The intelligence also established the involvement of the Chinese company Xi'an Bingguo Innovation Aviation Technology Co. Ltd. The National Security and Defense Council's sanctions list includes no companies with the following name.

In addition, the HUR confirmed that some Chinese companies supplied components for the assembly of Gerber imitator drones and FPV drones in Russia.

Reuters previously reported on Russia's cooperation with Chinese companies on the Harpy-A1, but at the time, the media referred to anonymous European sources and documents and did not indicate that it was China as a state that was facilitating such production.

So, in September 2024, journalists wrote that Kupol has developed and flight-tested this UAV in China with the help of local specialists.

Already in July 2025, the agency said that Chinese-made engines for these drones were supplied to Russia despite Western sanctions, allowing Kupol to increase production of this type of drone. At the same time, military intelligence reported to the media that Moscow was using these drones to attack civilian and military targets deep inside Ukrainian territory, while Russia was using about 500 of these drones per month.

Beijing consistently denies, which provides military assistance to Russia.

According to open source data, the Harpy is an analog of the Shahed. Reuters wrote that the claimed range of this drone is over 2000 km, with a warhead of 50 kg (the Shahed has similar characteristics).

• In summer, Ukraine imposed sanctions against Chinese companies, whose details were found in the "shaheds" after the Russian attack on July 4.
• After his meeting with Putin in Alaska on August 15, Trump said that he was not thinking about imposing additional tariffs on Russia's partner China because he satisfied with the summit with the dictator.