Russian Shahed drones have started to behave "strangely" after the replacement of their South Korean engines with Chinese ones.

The Geran-2 strike drones, which are Russia's version of the Iranian Shahed-136 drone, have exhibited unusual behavior this year. American officials attribute the technical issues occurring with them to the sanctions they impose on Russia.

Source. This is reported by The Washington Post.

Most frequently, the "Gerans" lose control during sharp turns. Some crash, while others stabilize, but in doing so, they become easy targets for Ukrainian air defense systems.

Western and Ukrainian military analysts who spoke with WP linked the high incidence of malfunctions to substandard components.

Experts from the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) suggested that a probable cause is the replacement of the servo motor – a small device that helps regulate the drone's movement in flight. At the end of last year, the manufacturer began equipping the "Geran-2" with a Chinese servo motor instead of the South Korean one that Russia previously used but can no longer due to sanctions.

Defective drones have marked a minor victory for Western countries in the ongoing struggle between state and intelligence agencies from various nations, aiming to deprive Moscow of access to high-tech components while also finding ways to circumvent restrictions and deliver these parts to Russia, WP reports.

According to American officials, since the onset of the war, the procurement operations for foreign components have been taken over by the FSB and GRU.

Despite the U.S. successfully closing off new smuggling channels, Russia is producing certain types of weapons in such quantities that it compensates for the losses in quality. In October alone, it launched over 2000 Geran-2 drones at Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky said.

Background. Recall that over ten Russian drones entered Belarus last night, as reported by "Belaruski Hayun" – they approached via the so-called Belarusian corridor.