A new Russian drone built to deceive Ukrainian air defenses has been exposed by Ukraine’s intelligence as being made entirely from Chinese components. Militarnyi reports that the aircraft, though intended primarily as a decoy, is capable of carrying a 15-kg warhead.

Drone mimics Shahed shape but is smaller and Chinese-made

Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate has published a detailed breakdown of the drone’s construction. Although its main function is to act as a false target alongside long-range drones, it can also carry a warhead weighing up to 15 kg.

The complete list of components has been published on the War&Sanctions portal. The Website identify the drone as TsBST.611000.

All onboard systems and electronic blocks are of Chinese origin. Nearly half of them — including the flight controller with autopilot, navigation modules and antennas, airspeed sensor, and Pitot tube — come from a single Chinese company, CUAV Technology. The company specializes in developing and producing UAV system modules and applications.

Banned CUAV tech still shows up in new Russian UAV

The UAV is also equipped with a Chinese-made copy of the Australian RFD900x data transmission module by RFDesign. Like the original, this device is designed to transmit data over long distances — up to 40 km in line of sight depending on the antenna. It enables data links from the drone to a ground station or from one UAV to another, expanding reconnaissance capabilities.

In October 2022, CUAV Technology announced restrictions on supplying its products to both Ukraine and Russia to prevent their use in military applications. However, in 2023, Russia presented a vertical takeoff drone as an original development, which turned out to be a CUAV product available on Aliexpress.