"This is a very long process." Katkov assesses whether Russia will be able to launch production of Qasef kamikaze drone

Russia is planning to launch production of a new Qasef kamikaze drone, the patent for which has already been obtained from Iran. However, mass production will not be possible in the near future.

In addition, the Qasef drone will be inferior to the already known Shaheds in terms of characteristics. Oleh Katkov, editor-in-chief of the military analytical portal Defence Express, told this in an exclusive interview with OBOZ.UA.

"In Russia, they were simply patented. There is no sensation in this. But it is impossible to say that in the near future they will replace the Shaheds with such drones. Absolutely not. The point is that this company has patented the development. It takes a long time from patent to production. For example, a lot of time has passed since they started talking about the fact that Russia plans to assemble Shaheds," the expert said.

Katkov noted that without a large number of imported components, Russia will not be able to establish drone production. Thus, the supply of Shaheds was suspended because Iran used all the drones to strike Israel and did not supply them to Russia, which became immediately noticeable.

"So, the fact that someone has patented something does not mean that these drones will be mass-produced immediately. This is a very long process. This is the first thing. Secondly, it is to some extent inferior to the Shahed," Katkov added.

According to him, the Qasef drone was developed on the basis of the Ababil kamikaze drone. Its starting weight is 85 kilograms, of which the warhead weighs 30 kilograms, and the declared flight range reaches 100 kilometers. Compared to the Shahed, the Qasef has worse characteristics, and the enemy has the ability to increase the weight of the warhead. Therefore, it is unlikely that the occupiers will start mass production of new drones.

Earlier it was reported that the aggressor country Russia may start production of a new kamikaze drone. Zavod Signal has already patented its drone, which visually resembles the Iranian-designed Qasef kamikaze drone.

As reported by OBOZ.UA, on the night of July 20, during the attack on Ukraine, the Russian occupation forces used not only Shahed-136 missiles and kamikaze drones, but also a new type of drone that has not yet been identified. In particular, the enemy tried to hit Kyiv with it.

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