China Helped Russia Develop New "Shahed" Drones with Jet Engines, According to the WSJ
The new jet-powered versions of the “Shahed” attack drones, which Russia is using in its massive attacks on Ukraine, are capable of reaching speeds of up to 500 km/h. This is approximately three times faster than previous models.
According to the publication, the emergence of the new jet-powered “Shaheds” was made possible in large part by Chinese components.
Chinese companies have supplied engines and other parts for the drones. U.S. officials, both current and former, note that China has long remained one of the main sources of components for Iranian “Shaheds.”
This includes, in particular, servo motors, gyroscopes, and other components necessary for the production of attack drones.
According to the WSJ, it was precisely thanks to this international supply chain that Iran was able to develop the production of relatively inexpensive attack drones, which Russia later began to use on a massive scale in the war against Ukraine.
One of the main technical challenges for Iranian engineers was to develop an engine capable of operating at high speeds and under extreme temperatures for several hours.
They based their design on the German L 550 E engine manufactured by Limbach Flugmotoren.
In 2012, a Chinese company began selling Limbach engines, and in 2017, it acquired the German manufacturer outright. According to the publication, this simplified Iran’s access to the relevant power units.
Subsequently, Iran developed its own version of the engine based on Limbach models, using cheaper Chinese components.
Separately, the WSJ mentions the Chinese company Telefly Telecommunications Equipment.
Ukrainian authorities had previously stated that the company manufactures turbojet engines that can be used in drones.
After Ukrainian officials reported finding Telefly engines in Russian drones, information about turbojet powerplants disappeared from the English-language version of the company’s website.
At the same time, as the publication notes, relevant references remained on the Chinese-language and other language versions of the website, as well as on the pages of other Chinese online retailers.
Thus, the development of the jet-powered “Shaheds” is linked not only to Iranian technology but also to a broad international supply chain for components, in which Chinese manufacturers play a significant role.
This was reported by The Wall Street Journal.
As a reminder, on Tuesday, August 18, 2026, jet-powered drones were spotted for the first time in western Ukraine. They traveled approximately 900 km from their launch site.
On the night of August 25, Russian drones attacked the “Vynogradivka–Vulcănești” international border crossing on the Ukrainian-Moldovan border. The strike damaged infrastructure and caused a fire, and operations at the checkpoint were temporarily suspended.
As a reminder, Russia attacked warehouses and energy facilities in the Odesa region.
Earlier, drones attacked Ozon logistics centers in two regions of the Russian Federation simultaneously.
Drones also attacked Krasnodar and caused a fire at a warehouse
Earlier, warehouses caught fire in Akulovo, near Moscow.
