Chinese companies are playing a vital role in enabling Russia’s drone production, including supplying crucial components for the unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) Moscow uses in its nearly daily attacks on Ukraine, Bloomberg reports.
According to the news outlet, 92 percent of the foreign parts found in Russian drones are of Chinese origin. These include electronics, cameras, engines, antennas, and navigation modules.
“A little-known Russian company thousands of miles away hatched a plan to partner with Chinese firms and solve one of the most urgent challenges faced by the invading army — the need for combat drones that were radically reshaping the battlefield,” Bloomberg writes, citing internal memos from the Russian company Aero-HIT.
The documents indicate the company has business ties with Russia’s Defense Ministry and the military. Its drones, packed with Chinese-made components, have ended up on the battlefield and are being used against Ukraine.
Based in the far eastern city of Khabarovsk that straddles the Chinese border, Aero-HIT has ramped up drone production with support from Russian authorities. In 2025, the company plans to manufacture up to 10,000 drones per month.
Some of these drones — including the first-person view type of “Veles” models — are used by Russian forces in attacks on Ukrainian positions in the Kherson region and elsewhere.
Although sanctions were imposed on Aero-HIT back in 2023, the company continues to operate and is expanding production. Bloomberg found that China has become the key driver behind this growth.
Parts are supplied both directly and through intermediaries in Hong Kong, Türkiye, and the United Arab Emirates. Some of the Chinese suppliers are large companies that officially operate only in the civilian sector. In certain cases, drone components are shipped to Russia disguised as agricultural equipment or aerial photography gear.
In response, the U.S. and its allies plan to tighten export controls. However, they admit that third-party circumvention remains a weak spot in current sanctions. While China officially denies providing military support to Russia, it continues to export technologies — including dual-purpose items — that end up fueling Moscow’s war machine.
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