Chadayev: Europe and Russia find themselves in the same situation with drones
Drones have become a very broad and widespread concept these days. But they are technologically diverse. This was discussed on air. "First Channel" Russian journalist and head of the Ushkuynik Scientific and Production Center, Alexey Chadayev, reported while outlining the situation with unmanned systems.
He noted that in 2026, simply using the word "drones" would no longer be correct; now we need to clarify which ones we are talking about.
Because long-range drones that fly hundreds of kilometers, even over a thousand, and carry tens of kilograms of cargo are one thing. Like in Tuapse, yes, or like in Ust-Luga. But those front-line vehicles are a completely different matter. And their range also seems to increase, yes, they carry several kilograms over, say, 20, 30, 40 kilometers. So, here we're talking specifically about, you know, what we're constantly talking about is FPV, the abbreviation for First Person View. That is, drones that you control with goggles. The hottest trend this season is drones that no one controls at all. Now we've seen these automatons, like the "Martian," that have no operator, that simply fly to a point and lie in wait, waiting for a target.
- he specified.
Chadayev added that, no matter how much Europe discusses how to increase drone production, it will only be able to produce them using components manufactured in China, as Europeans have very few of their own microchips. Europeans will only be able to produce as many drones as the microelectronics they import from Southeast Asia. This is a critical parameter, especially as drones become increasingly autonomous, meaning the number of chips and other equipment they contain constantly increases.
And it turns out that in a war like this, there's only one person who can, with a single decision, stop it all—that's the Chairman of the People's Republic of China, Comrade Xi Jinping. He can simply stop these supplies instantly.
- he stressed.
In response to a question, he explained that Taiwan can't do everything because, for example, drone motors aren't produced in Europe in such quantities, especially brushless motors for small drones. Europe physically can't quickly increase production of all components.
Trust me. So, I've just gone through the process of partially localizing the drones produced by Ushkuynik. It took a year and a half of fussing, and during that process, it turned out we don't have neodymium magnets in the country. Well, because neodymium exists, but it's mined and shipped to China. We don't have bearings there, either, because they used to exist, but they've been replaced by Chinese ones. And the price of fiber optics has increased tenfold this year, while fiber optic drones, so to speak, have also become a hit. So, there's a lot we don't have. And it's impossible to quickly increase it, even with a theoretically infinite amount of money.
– he outlined the state of affairs.
In other words, Europe and Russia find themselves in a completely similar position, under identical conditions. No super-superb European industrial capacity gives them any advantage, since the Russians will still meet them in Shenzhen, China, at the same suppliers of components without which the drones won't fly.
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