Russia plans to expand production of military-grade carbon fiber used in long-range strike drone airframes, according to documents obtained by Politico.
The documents indicate that Alabuga-Volokno, a company belonging to a Rosatom structure, plans to increase annual aerospace-grade carbon-fiber production by an additional 500 metric tons by 2029.
David Albright, president of the U.S.-based Institute for Science and International Security, estimated that this additional volume could theoretically be sufficient for around 28,000 additional strike drones per year. That is an expert estimate of potential manufacturing capacity, not the number of drones already produced.
The documentation on the plant’s expansion was compiled from Russian sources by Ukraine’s Center for Security and Cooperation. Politico reported that representatives of the U.S. House Select Committee on China and the Ukrainian government had reviewed the documents and considered them authentic. Rosatom did not comment on them.