Putin Says Russia Is Ramping up Drone Production Tenfold

 Russian President Vladimir Putin, 2nd right, accompanied by Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov, left, and Russian Presidential Aide Aleksei Dyumin, 2n left, visits the Special Technology Center in St Petersburg, Russia, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
Russian President Vladimir Putin, 2nd right, accompanied by Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov, left, and Russian Presidential Aide Aleksei Dyumin, 2n left, visits the Special Technology Center in St Petersburg, Russia, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
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Putin Says Russia Is Ramping up Drone Production Tenfold

 Russian President Vladimir Putin, 2nd right, accompanied by Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov, left, and Russian Presidential Aide Aleksei Dyumin, 2n left, visits the Special Technology Center in St Petersburg, Russia, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
Russian President Vladimir Putin, 2nd right, accompanied by Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov, left, and Russian Presidential Aide Aleksei Dyumin, 2n left, visits the Special Technology Center in St Petersburg, Russia, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that Russia was ramping up drone production by around ten times to nearly 1.4 million this year in a bid to ensure the Russian armed forces win in Ukraine.

Since Russia sent tens of thousands of soldiers into Ukraine in February 2022, the war has largely been a story of grinding artillery and drone strikes along a heavily fortified 1,000-km (620-mile) front involving hundreds of thousands of soldiers.

The conflict has been a crucible for drone development - and an illustration of the importance of drones to modern warfare, from terrorizing infantry and collecting intelligence to sabotaging infrastructure and attacking arsenals.

"In total, about 140,000 unmanned aerial vehicles of various types were delivered to the armed forces in 2023," Putin said. "This year, the production of drones is planned to increase significantly. Well, to be more precise, almost 10 times."

"Whoever reacts faster to these demands on the battlefield wins," Putin said at a meeting in St Petersburg about drone production.

Both Russia and Ukraine have bought drones abroad and ramped up their own production while drone videos have illustrated the horror of the battlefield, showing deadly strikes on infantry, artillery and tanks.

EYE IN THE SKY

Inexpensive first-person view (FPV) drones - originally developed for civilian racers - are controlled by pilots on the ground and often crash into targets, laden with explosives.

For just a few hundred dollars, soldiers on both sides can inflict vast damage on the other side. A large-scale Ukrainian drone attack on Russia triggered an earthquake-sized blast at a major arsenal in the Tver region on Wednesday.

Putin said that Russia was making almost weekly advances in drone technology and needed to also develop its drone defenses, essentially technology which senses, confuses and then shoots down the attacking drones.

"The key task is to produce a wide range of aerial unmanned vehicles, to establish serial production as quickly as possible," Putin said.



Iran Ministry Protests over Arrests in US of its Nationals

The Iranian flag waves in front of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) headquarters, before the beginning of a board of governors meeting, in Vienna, Austria, March 1, 2021. REUTERS/Lisi Niesner The Iranian flag waves in front of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) headquarters, before the beginning of a board of governors meeting, in Vienna, Austria, March 1, 2021. REUTERS/Lisi Niesner
The Iranian flag waves in front of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) headquarters, before the beginning of a board of governors meeting, in Vienna, Austria, March 1, 2021. REUTERS/Lisi Niesner The Iranian flag waves in front of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) headquarters, before the beginning of a board of governors meeting, in Vienna, Austria, March 1, 2021. REUTERS/Lisi Niesner
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Iran Ministry Protests over Arrests in US of its Nationals

The Iranian flag waves in front of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) headquarters, before the beginning of a board of governors meeting, in Vienna, Austria, March 1, 2021. REUTERS/Lisi Niesner The Iranian flag waves in front of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) headquarters, before the beginning of a board of governors meeting, in Vienna, Austria, March 1, 2021. REUTERS/Lisi Niesner
The Iranian flag waves in front of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) headquarters, before the beginning of a board of governors meeting, in Vienna, Austria, March 1, 2021. REUTERS/Lisi Niesner The Iranian flag waves in front of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) headquarters, before the beginning of a board of governors meeting, in Vienna, Austria, March 1, 2021. REUTERS/Lisi Niesner

Iran has summoned the Swiss ambassador in Tehran, who represents US interests in the country, and a senior Italian diplomat over the arrest by the US of two Iranian nationals this week, Iranian media reported on Saturday.

US prosecutors charged the two men on Monday with illegally exporting sensitive technology to Iran that they said was used in a January drone attack in Jordan that killed three US service members, Reuters reported.

The US blamed Iran-backed militants for the attack. Iran said at the time it was not involved.

Federal prosecutors in Boston identified the men as Mohammad Abedini, the co-founder of an Iranian-based company, and Mahdi Sadeghi, an employee of Massachusetts-based semiconductor manufacturer Analog Devices.

Abedini, a resident of both Switzerland and Iran, was arrested in Italy at the request of the US government. Sadeghi, an Iranian-born naturalized US citizen, lives in Natick, Massachusetts.

“We consider these arrests in violation of international law,” Iranian media quoted the foreign ministry as saying, adding that the Swiss ambassador and the Italian charge d'affaires were asked to pass on Iran’s protest.