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13th Nov 2023

Ireland’s summer tour will see them take on world champions South Africa

Patrick McCarry

The Boks re-set the clock in Paris and are world champions until the big show rolls around, again, in Australia.

The new Nations Cup will officially get underway in 2026, the year after the Lions travel to Australia and the year before the next World Cup. Before all that, Ireland will get a chance to test themselves against the world champions.

With Andy Farrell the prohibitive favourite to land the Lions job – we believe the job is already his for the taking – this jaunt would likely serve as his final games in charge of Ireland before he heads down the sabbatical route. A lot will be riding on the results as the Boks will be eager to re-assert their position as best in the world, gain revenge for a pool stage defeat, and Farrell will want to step away on a high.

As The Sunday Times first reported, earlier this year, the 2024 summer tours were settled upon when all the unions met to start discussing the frame-work for what we now know as the Nations Cup.

Ireland may only play two Tests against South Africa as the agreement was not to load a three-Test series on to the end of a World Cup year. Even with that, Ireland would end up playing 16 Test matches in the 2023/24 season. England, who reached the World Cup semi-finals, would play 18 Tests in the season.

UPDATE:  That news was confirmed on Friday, December 8th by the IRFU. They will play at Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria on July 6th, 2024 and at Kings Park, Durban the following Saturday (July 13th).

Confirmed. Ireland will play two tests against the @Springboks in July 2024. More: https://t.co/JeYpStOMEu #TeamOfUs pic.twitter.com/g1PuuLkQvI — Irish Rugby (@IrishRugby) December 8, 2023

Also part of the summer 2024 tours will be Wales versus Australia, England taking on New Zealand and France facing off against Argentina. Scotland would take on two nations from the Pacific Islands while Italy would play the USA and Canada. There is a possibility that some unions may look to arrange an additional match outside the agreed upon ‘window’ that would incorporate two games.

From 2026, the Six Nations and Rugby Championship will both be played in March and April, the club season will end later (around June) and the next Test window will be for Nations Cup sides from both hemispheres.

Six uncapped players that could feature on South Africa tour

Following Ireland’s quarter final exit at the 2023 World Cup, we had a look at a match-day squad Andy Farrell could potentially select for the first game of the 2024 Six Nations.

Johnny Sexton and Keith Earls have hung up their boots, but the likes of Peter O’Mahony, Cian Healy, Dave Kilcoyne and Conor Murray look to be sticking around. Farrell will be keenly aware of the need to slowly filter in new faces while keeping standards high, and results positive.

Still, that tour to South Africa represents a great opportunity to give younger players a blood and thunder introduction to Test rugby. The Springboks will not play a Test match again until that tour, unless Rassie Erasmus finds a nation (like Georgia or Portugal) for a warm-up.

The Boks were been keen to defend their World No.1 status while Ireland will look to go one better than the last tour, in 2016, and claim their first ever series win in South Africa.

What may improve the chances of several younger, uncapped players heading on tour would be the academy games being planned between a combined Irish side and the likes of Benetton and Zebre, this December. The IRFU may also explore the possibility of bringing a wider squad of players, next summer, so an Emerging Ireland or Ireland ‘A’ side could take on a South Africa ‘A’.

Here are six players we feel could be included on that tour, should they have good seasons with their provinces and get a taste of Ireland camp during the Six Nations:

Brian Gleeson (Munster)

The Irish back row has pretty much picking three from four (O’Mahony, van der Flier, Doris and Conan) this past two years, and some new blood, or competition at least, would be welcomed. Simon Zebo and Stephen Ferris have already identified him as a guy to watch closely, he was excellent for Ireland U20s and Graham Rowntree really likes what he sees. Would be asking a lot for him to make an end-of-season tour at such a young age (19) but he looks to have many of the tools needed to be a solid Test player.

Paddy McCarthy (Leinster)

Another player from the most recent U20s that we are looking to fast-track, mainly because he looks a real talent and Ireland needs loosehead options. Healy and Kilcoyne have 70 years on them, combined, and Andrew Porter is being asked to carry a lot of water. McCarthy only made his Leinster debut, last month, but word from those in and around Leinster is he already looks at home around the senior stars. Not expecting immediate Test match minutes, but one to bring in and get up to speed.

Paddy Campbell (Munster)

The former Cork minor footballing star made his senior debut against Wasps in that infamous Champions Cup game that came about when half the senior squad got blighted with Covid, in South Africa. Has experience at outhalf but can also play wing and fullback. Has a real spark about him. Would be a very handy back three option for Ireland if he can push on again this season.

Alex Kendellen (Munster)

While folks are getting gee-ed up about Gleeson and Ruadhán Quinn, Munster have a future captain in Kendellen. Still only 22, the Cork native is fast approaching 50 senior caps and played a significant role in that final push, last season, that turned Munster from Champions Cup qualification outsiders to URC champions. Spoken of highly by so many at Munster, he can play openside and No.8.

Nathan Doak (Ulster)

Ireland’s main goal-kicker, in the future, could well be a scrumhalf. The Ulster 9 looked on a fast-track to national team selection until he, and Ulster, had some set-backs in 2022/23. Has started the season well, looks in the Conor Murray mold and has a solid temperament.

Sam Prendergast (Leinster)

This selection depends on a couple of key factors – the young outhalf getting a decent haul of minutes for Leinster and showing up against top sides, and Andy Farrell moving on from at least one Byrne as he plots the years ahead. Prendergast has stacks of potential and looked unfazed in his five senior outings , to date. Still only 19 so best to give him time, but could benefit from being brought into camp to aid with a future, full call-up.

Our wildcard selection is a lad who is 28 so not exactly a young gun, like those above. Tadhg Beirne may yet move into the Ireland back row, from next year on, but we still feel Connacht’s Conor Oliver is worth a shot. The Dubliner has enjoyed a new lease of life since joining Connacht in 2020 and adds that real dog to any back row unit.

The temptation may be to go with the younger lads – such as Ryan Baird and Cian Prendergast – but Oliver can make his case with another strong season out West.

JAMES DOWNEY & PAT MCCARRY ON HOUSE OF RUGBY

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Home > Autumn Internationals 2023

Autumn Internationals 2023

The Rugby World Cup took place in France during the autumn of 2023, so there wasn't a full series of Autumn Internationals in the UK & Ireland.

Following the World Cup, Wales played the Barbarians at the Principality Stadium in the only scheduled Autumn International for 2023.

Autumn Internationals 2023 Fixtures

All kick-off times are shown in UK & Ireland time.

Autumn Internationals

Saturday 4th November 2023

Summer Internationals 2023 Fixtures

Earlier in the year, the four home unions – England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales – arranged a series of Summer Internationals to serve as a warm-up for the World Cup.

Click on the links below to view match stats, reports and video highlights.

Saturday 29th July 2023

Saturday 5th August 2023

Saturday 12th August 2023

Saturday 19th August 2023

Friday 25th August 2023

Saturday 26th August 2023

Sunday 27th August 2023

For information about tickets and where to purchase them, please read our guide here: How to buy Summer & Autumn International rugby tickets .

Summer Internationals Rugby News

Much-capped Wales trio given rousing send-off in victory over Barbarians

4th November 2023

Decorated trio Alun Wyn Jones, Justin Tipuric and Leigh Halfpenny enjoyed a fitting send-off from international rugby as Wales beat the Barbarians 49-26 in Cardiff.

Warren Gatland urges Wales players to stake claim for Six Nations spot

3rd November 2023

Wales head coach Warren Gatland believes that players can put down a Six Nations selection marker in Saturday’s clash against the Barbarians.

Leigh Halfpenny has 'an exciting challenge' awaiting him after Wales retirement

2nd November 2023

Leigh Halfpenny looks set to continue his rugby career in the southern hemisphere after he makes a final Wales appearance on Saturday.

Rugby World Cup final referee Wayne Barnes announces retirement

Leading official Wayne Barnes has announced his retirement five days after refereeing the Rugby World Cup final.

Jac Morgan handed captaincy as Wales name squad to face Barbarians

Jac Morgan will captain a team containing 12 Rugby World Cup squad members when Wales tackle the Barbarians in Cardiff on Saturday.

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Tensions rise ahead of Ireland’s South Africa tour as ex-Munster Bok promises ‘war’

Tensions are rising ahead of Ireland’s summer tour of South Africa next month, with Springbok centre Damian de Allende promising a ‘war’ ahead of the opening Test in Pretoria.

The back-to-back world champions will be in action for the first time since claiming World Cup glory in France last year.

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Ireland memorably defeated the Springboks in their pool game in Paris but were knocked out yet again at the quarter-final stage by New Zealand, while South Africa recovered from their loss against Ireland and went on to claim the trophy.

South Africans were known to be irked by the perception in some quarters that Ireland were still the No1 side in the world based on their consistent form and have been lining up Andy Farrell’s side for some time.

Springbok lock Eben Etzebeth added fuel to the fire recently when claiming that a clutch of Ireland players were saying ‘see you in the final’ after that pool win over South Africa.

De Allende , who has won 78 Test caps for his country, said his team are relishing this tour.

‘It is the first Test match after the World Cup in front of our own crowd,’ the former Munster centre told RugbyPass TV.

‘We never got that luxury after winning the 2019 World Cup because of Covid and everything like that. That first game against Ireland at Loftus, whether I play or not, it is just going to feel almost like a war.

‘A lot of people have been giving them credit (as) being No1 in the world because they play such good footy but that’s going to be a flippin’ incredible battle.’

De Allende is also relishing the opportunity to set the record straight against an Irish team on a three-game winning streak against the Boks, stretching all the way back to 2016.

The veteran midfielder revealed that the playing group are still smarting from media criticism in the wake of their humiliating 38-3 loss at the Aviva Stadium in 2017.

‘The way the media spoke, I think they completely disrespected us,’ he said.

‘For us as a group, and for us as Springboks, it is about getting respect back, not their respect, but our own respect.

‘We don’t need to but we really want to beat Ireland. It is going to be an incredible Test match.’

De Allende also took aim at Farrell’s ability to motivate the Irish players compared to Springboks supremo Rassie Erasmus.

‘We get the emotional driver,’ he added.

‘It’s hard to say. Andy Farrell is English so I don’t know if he knows much about Ireland, their history and what has happened in the past.

‘Because Rassie is South African and he loves South Africa so much ? he’s played for the Springboks ? he knows how to make us tick as South Africans and he knows how to make South Africa tick.’

Meanwhile, Leinster head coach Leo Cullen has called on supporters to turn out in numbers ahead of this evening’s URC quarter-final with Ulster at Aviva Stadium.

The Leinster branch has shifted almost 20,000 tickets ahead of the derby clash at Ireland HQ as the province target a first league title since 2021 in the coming weeks.

‘The guys have applied themselves well, a lot of experience in the group, we’ve played lots of knockout games already this year and hopefully we’ve a few more to come,’ said Cullen.

‘Ulster will pose plenty of challenges, we played them a couple of weeks ago but the team we have is quite different.

‘So it’ll be a good test for our guys.

We’ll have a decent crowd here, there’s still tickets on sale. But the challenges of playing the play-off games… it’s a big ask for our supporters.

‘We’re appreciative of the crowd we had on Friday night at the RDS, we’re appreciative of the people who will be here and we’d plead with people to come out and support the team. It means a lot to the players and everyone involved.

‘It’s another exciting challenge, it’s great, we’re 12 games on the bounce now and so we just want to keep going on,’ he added.

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‘I Said To Myself, I’m Going To Come Out Of This’ – Amelia McFarland On Her Cancer Battle

2nd October 2023 14:13

By Ciaron Noble

Amelia McFarland (second from the right) is pictured with some of her new Blackrock College team-mates

Amelia McFarland recently made her Energia All-Ireland League debut for Blackrock College , almost a year since she was diagnosed with breast cancer. It was a significant and inspirational milestone in what has been a rollercoaster twelve months for her.

The well-travelled McFarland has packed a lot into her 33 years so far. Born in London, she grew up with her family in Moscow before moving at the age of 10 to Ireland, where both sets of grandparents lived, in Donegal and Meath respectively.

She now lives in Carrigans, Co. Donegal, where she has turned the family’s ancestral home, Dunmore House & Gardens , into a beautiful venue for weddings and corporate events.

She has always had a keen interest in sport, especially horse riding. She competed in the National Dressage Championships just over a week ago. She is also a rugby player, playing with City of Derry last season, and she credits the sport for helping her cope during her difficult cancer battle.

“There is more and more research coming out saying the more exercise you do while going through aggressive chemotherapy the better you are at the other end, and the better you come around from it,” she told IrishRugby.ie .

“Chemo is such a mental journey. I gave it my best shot. I said to myself, I’m going to come out of this. I would have chemo on a Tuesday and rugby training on the Wednesday.

“I said to myself, I know I’m going to feel absolutely terrible, but I just wanted to get to training. Just being there was a mental win for me at the time.”

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, both here in Ireland and around the world. It is an illness that affects one in every nine women, that is two players from a women’s rugby matchday squad.

McFarland went to the doctor after she found a lump in her breast. At the time the doctor was not overly concerned, but it was when she went for a biopsy that her cancer diagnosis was confirmed.

She had six rounds of chemotherapy, followed by surgery, as well as radiotherapy. The chemo is said to be the toughest of all these stages, it leads to your hair and nails falling out. McFarland can remember the moment she started losing her hair.

“I wouldn’t be one of these people that would be focused on my looks, but the first time I start losing my hair was actually on the rugby pitch.

“I just scored a try, and you know when you brush your hands through your hair, a clump of my hair was in my hand,” recalled the courageous cancer awareness advocate.

She drew comfort from the fact that it happened on the rugby pitch, surrounded by the support of her team-mates.

If I was sitting on the couch at home when that happened, I think the feeling would have been so much worse. Being on that rugby pitch, being around strong women, it kind of carried me through.”

McFarland is thankfully over the worst off the illness now, but still undergoes ‘mini chemo’ once a month while also having to take medication for the next couple of years. She urges people to get checked if they are any way concerned.

“If you’re worried get checked, go to the doctor. The earlier they find it, the better the prognosis,” she explained.

A summer wedding co-ordinator by trade, the strong-running winger is currently studying psychology at Dublin Business School. She moved to All-Ireland League champions Blackrock to play her rugby this season, and is thoroughly enjoying the new challenge.

“I was saying to somebody the other day it was almost a year to the day since I got my cancer diagnosis when I made my Blackrock debut.

“The team around me is so good, the likes of Hannah O’Connor, Beth Cregan , and many other provincial players.

“If you would have told me just six months ago that I’d be lining out for Blackrock in the AIL, I wouldn’t have believed you.”

The love of the sport runs deep in the McFarland family. Amelia’s younger brother, Max , is an Olympian having represented the Great Britain Sevens team at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo where they placed just outside the medals in fourth.

The former Clontarf flyer plays for the Scotland Sevens team. It was a great honour for the whole family when he was in Tokyo, and Amelia says Max is ‘one of the main reasons I got into rugby’.

“When he went to Tokyo, our internet went down, and where we live the signal is woeful but we managed to get it on one of the laptops.

“It was like being back in the 90s! We were all huddled around this one screen, screaming at the top of our voices,” laughed the proud sibling.

She is targeting her own rugby success this season with Blackrock, who began their title defence with a hard-fought 22-17 home win over Old Belvedere . She is hoping she can earn some silverware with her new club.

“I am a very competitive person. I want to play as many games as I can, and if I could win some silverware that would by phenomenal,” she added.

Breast Cancer Awareness is an effort to raise awareness and reduce the stigma of breast cancer through education about screening, symptoms, and treatment. Visit Breast Cancer Ireland and the Irish Cancer Society for more information on breast cancer supports and ways to donate or fundraise. 

Inside the Russian effort to build 6,000 attack drones with Iran’s help

Leaked documents show that Moscow is progressing toward its goal of mass-producing UAVs it could use to pummel Ukrainian cities

The engineers at a once-bustling industrial hub deep inside Russia were busy planning. The team had been secretly tasked with building a production line that would operate around-the-clock churning out self-detonating drones, weapons that President Vladimir Putin’s forces could use to bombard Ukrainian cities.

A retired official of Russia’s Federal Security Service was put in charge of security for the program. The passports of highly skilled employees were seized so they could not leave the country. In correspondence and other documents, engineers used coded language: Drones were “boats,” their explosives were “bumpers,” and Iran — the country covertly providing technical assistance — was “Ireland” or “Belarus.”

This was Russia’s billion-dollar weapons deal with Iran coming to life in November, 500 miles east of Moscow in the Tatarstan region. Its aim is to domestically build 6,000 drones by summer 2025 — enough to reverse the Russian army’s chronic shortages of unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs, on the front line. If it succeeds, the sprawling new drone factory could help Russia preserve its dwindling supply of precision munitions, thwart Ukraine’s effort to retake occupied territory and dramatically advance Moscow’s position in the drone arms race that is remaking modern warfare.

Although Western officials have revealed the existence of the facility and Moscow’s partnership with Tehran, documents leaked from the program and obtained by The Washington Post provide new information about the effort by two self-proclaimed enemies of the United States — under some of the world’s heaviest sanctions — to expand the Kremlin’s drone program. Altogether, the documents indicate that, despite delays and a production process that is deeply reliant on foreign-produced electronic components, Moscow has made steady progress toward its goal of manufacturing a variant of the Iranian Shahed-136, an attack drone capable of traveling more than 1,000 miles.

The documents show that the facility’s engineers are trying to improve on Iran’s dated manufacturing techniques, using Russian industrial expertise to produce the drones on a larger scale than Tehran has achieved and with greater quality control. The engineers also are exploring improvements to the drone itself, including making it capable of swarm attacks in which the UAVs autonomously coordinate a strike on a target.

OCT. 5, 2021

APRIL 4, 2023

Construction of facilities Alabuga later used to establish a drone production line.

Preliminary floor plan for part of the drone assembly line.

JUNE 20, 2021

Researchers at the Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security, who reviewed the documents pertaining to the production process at the request of The Post, estimated that work at the facility in the Republic of Tatarstan’s Alabuga Special Economic Zone is at least a month behind schedule. The facility has reassembled drones provided by Iran but has itself manufactured only drone bodies, and probably for not more than 300 of the UAVs, the researchers concluded. Alabuga is unlikely to meet its target date for the 6,000 drones, they said.

Even so, David Albright, a former U.N. weapons inspector who helped lead the research team that studied the documents, said: “Alabuga looks to be seeking a drone developmental capability that exceeds Iran’s.”

The Post obtained the documents from an individual involved in the work at Alabuga but who opposes Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. The individual decided to expose details of the effort in the hope that international attention might lead to additional sanctions, potentially disrupting production and bringing the war to an end more quickly, the person told The Post.

“This was the only thing I could do to at least stop and maybe create some obstacles to the implementation of this project,” the person said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of safety concerns. “It has gone too far.”

The documents, dating from winter 2022 to spring 2023, include factory-floor blueprints, technical schematics, personnel records, memorandums provided to Iranian counterparts and presentations given to representatives of Russia’s Defense Ministry on the status of the effort code-named “Project Boat.” The Russian-language news outlet Protokol reported on some of the documents in July.

The team led by Albright and senior researcher Sarah Burkhard said the documents “appear authentic” and “go to great length to describe supply-chain procurement, production capabilities, manufacturing plans and processes, as well as plans to disguise and hide the production of Shahed drones.”

The research team found that the project faces challenges — including “doubt about its ability to reach its desired staffing levels” — but cautioned that Russia might be able to overcome those difficulties.

“Russia has a credible way of building over the next year or so a capability to go from periodically launching tens of imported Shahed-136 kamikaze drones against Ukrainian targets to more regularly attacking with hundreds of them,” Albright told The Post.

Albright said the disclosure of the records makes it difficult for Iran — which has publicly declared it is neutral in the war — to claim that it is not helping Moscow develop the ability to manufacture drones at Alabuga.

The Russian government and Alabuga did not respond to requests for comment from The Post. The Kremlin has dismissed reports that it is receiving assistance from Tehran on drones, saying that Russia relies on its own research and development .

Iran’s mission to the United Nations also did not respond to a request for comment.

‘The flying moped’

While Russia has made breakthroughs in air defense and hypersonic missiles, its military was late to prioritize drone technology. To catch up, Moscow has had to turn to Iran, one of the few nations willing to sell it military hardware.

Last summer, Russia began receiving secret shipments of Iranian drones — many of them Shaheds — that were quickly deployed to prop up its flagging war effort, U.S. and other Western officials have said.

Iran’s Shahed-136 — Russia calls the drone the Geran-2 — can carry a 118-pound explosive payload toward a target that is programmed in before launch. Because the drone is powered by a noisy propeller engine, some Ukrainians have dubbed it “the flying moped.”

The Iranian Shahed-136

Russia is working toward manufacturing a variant of the Iranian drone, which it calls the Geran-2, to supplement its dwindling stockpile of precision weapons. The drone can deliver small payloads of explosives in self-detonating attacks.

SHAHED-136 (IRAN)

Length: 11 feet

Max. speed:

Approx. weight: 440 pounds

Range: About 1,100 - 1,500 miles

Overhead view

Its nose contains a warhead and can be equipped with a camera.

Sources: Defense Express, AeroVironment

WILLIAM NEFF/THE WASHINGTON POST

Max. speed: 115 mph

Russia’s drones have struck targets deep inside Ukraine, degrading Kyiv’s precious air defenses and allowing Moscow to preserve its more expensive precision-guided missiles. The attacks, often targeting critical civilian infrastructure, have had a devastating impact on Ukraine’s war effort, knocking critical power grids offline and destroying grain stockpiles, according to Vladyslav Vlasiuk, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

“Those drones are much cheaper to produce compared to the damage they cause, and this is the problem,” Vlasiuk told The Post.

In November, a Kyiv-based think tank became one of the first nongovernmental organizations to examine the wreckage from a Russian Geran-2 drone downed in Ukraine. It found that key parts — the motor and warhead — were produced by Tehran. “We knew the drone was from Iran,” said Gleb Kanievskyi, the founder of the StateWatch think tank.

That month, Iran acknowledged it had provided drones to Russia but said it had done so only before the start of the war.

In the past three months, Russia has attacked Ukraine with more than 600 of the self-detonating Shahed-136 drones, according to an intelligence assessment produced by Kyiv in July and obtained by The Post.

Conflict Armament Research, a weapons-tracking group based in Britain, examined two drones downed last month and concluded based on components it found that the Kremlin has started producing “its own domestic version of the Shahed-136.”

The Post reported in November that Russian and Iranian officials had finalized a deal in which the self-detonating drones would be produced at the Alabuga Special Economic Zone, a government-backed manufacturing hub designed to attract foreign investment. The cooperation included the transfer of designs, training of production staff and provision of increasingly hard-to-source electronic components.

“This is a full-scale defense partnership that is harmful to Ukraine, to Iran’s neighbors and to the international community,” White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said in June as the Biden administration confirmed plans by the two countries to build a drone production facility. Kirby said the plant “could be fully operational next year.”

Under the deal, the new documents show, Tehran agreed to sell Moscow what is effectively a franchise, with Iranian specialists sharing project documentation, locally produced or reverse-engineered components, and know-how. A document created in February by the project’s chief manager details the parameters of the effort and estimates the cost for some aspects of the project to be 151 billion rubles, more than $2 billion at the exchange rate at the time. Under agreements reached earlier, more than half of that sum was to go to Iran, which insisted on being paid in dollars or gold because of the volatility of the ruble, the individual who provided the documents said.

The effort — at a facility larger than 14 football fields and set to be expanded — is to be separated into three stages, according to a planning document. The first envisioned Iran’s delivery of disassembled drones that would be reassembled at the facility. The second called for the facility to produce airframes — the hollow bodies of the drones — that would be combined with Iranian-supplied engines and electronics. In the final and most ambitious stage, more than 4,000 drones would be produced with little Iranian assistance and delivered to the Russian military by September 2025.

A three-stage plan

Below is a visualization of the production timeline, based on internal documents, that engineers set out late in 2022. Experts who reviewed the documents for The Post said work has probably been delayed.

100 units per month

600 total units

Iran was to deliver disassembled drones that would be reassembled at Alabuga.

170-180 units per month

1,332 total units

The facility is to produce airframes — the hollow bodies of the drones — that would be combined with Iranian supplied engines and electronics.

226 units per month

4,068 total units

In the third stage, Alabuga is to independently produce drones built with materials and components sourced largely by Russia. Under the facility’s contract, the last of those drones must be delivered to the Russian Defense Ministry by September 2025.

Up to 170-180 units per month

The analysis conducted for The Post by the Institute for Science and International Security found that the facility’s production plan “appears to be feasible” but has “vulnerabilities that could disrupt its ability to fulfill its contract … or at least delay the fulfillment.”

Scarce components

The documents identify the sourcing of components required to build the Shahed-136 as an immediate challenge, after Western restrictions disrupted Russian access to foreign-produced electronics.

A detailed inventory, based on data provided to the Russians by Tehran, shows that over 90 percent of the drone system’s computer chips and electrical components are manufactured in the West, primarily in the United States. Only four of the 130 electronic components needed to build the drone are made in Russia, according to the document.

The research team led by Albright and Burkhard noted that none of the required items appears to be exclusively for use in military drones, and none is listed as a sensitive technology that is subject to export controls by the U.S. Commerce Department. The components would, however, fall under a near-blanket ban the United States recently imposed on the export of electronics to Russia, the team said.

The flight-control unit, used to pilot the drone, comprises 21 separate electronic components manufactured by the Dallas-based company Texas Instruments. At least 13 electronic components manufactured by the Massachusetts-based company Analog Devices are present in all of the drone’s major circuit boards, including an accelerometer critical for the craft’s operation that allows the UAV to navigate along a preprogrammed route if the GPS signal is lost.

One document highlights the need to develop a supply channel for various American components, including a Kintex-7 FPGA, a processor used in the drone’s navigation and communication system, made by a company that was acquired last year by California-based AMD. Without elaborating, another spreadsheet notes the domestic availability of Western-made components inside Russia and lists U.S.-based electronics distributors Mouser and DigiKey as potential suppliers.

AMD, DigiKey, Texas Instruments and Analog Devices told The Post that they comply with all U.S. sanctions and global export regulations and work to ensure that the products they make or distribute are not diverted to prohibited users. Mouser did not respond to requests for comment.

The documents do not suggest that any Western company directly supplied Iran or Russia with components used in production of the drone.

In response to questions from The Post, the White House said U.S. officials have worked to prevent Moscow from obtaining technology that might be used in its war against Ukraine and have imposed sanctions against those involved in the transfer of Iranian military equipment to Russia.

“As Russia searches for ways to evade our actions, the U.S. government, alongside allies and partners, will continue to ramp up our own efforts to counter such evasion,” Adrienne Watson, a spokeswoman for the National Security Council, said in a statement.

According to a breakdown of material requirements along with the status of negotiations with suppliers, Alabuga specialists were able to promptly source the materials required for manufacturing the airframe. Most of those components are supplied by Russian or Belarusian companies, and the Chinese company Metastar provided a sample of a material used to make the wings, the breakdown shows.

Metastar did not respond to a request seeking comment.

Other components proved harder to obtain. Documents highlighted a problem that perpetually plagues Russian military production: the lack of a capable domestic engine industry. The Shahed-136 is powered by a reverse-engineered German Limbach Flugmotoren L550E engine, which Iran illicitly obtained two decades ago.

To reach the final stage of the project, Russia would have to come up with its own version of the engine, which engineers described in internal documents as their most complex task. A spreadsheet created by a senior engineer on Nov. 5, titled “Questions asked to Iran at the very beginning of cooperation,” listed a request for a copy of the engine as “the most important point.”

“Better two: one to take apart, and after the chemical analysis it will not be functional; the second one is for comparative tests. The propeller is also needed for testing,” the engineer wrote. “We’ll copy it too.”

The questions — over 120 in total — were separated into thematic categories that include “policy” and “warhead,” and requested details on how Iran achieved mass production. They also asked “which countries are suppliers of electronic components.” The documents obtained by The Post do not show a response to that question.

The Alabuga team also requested a meeting with Mado, an Iranian company that produces engines and other components for UAVs with the help of illicitly obtained Western technology. Western governments imposed sanctions on the company late last year for its contribution to the war in Ukraine.

Subsequent documents include a detailed description of the re-engineered Limbach engine, known as the Mado MD550. The authors indicated that the description was compiled on the basis of the information “provided by Mado specialists.”

Efforts to reach Mado for comment were not successful.

Despite those challenges, Alabuga engineers have worked to improve the drones, the documents show. They have swapped out malfunctioning Chinese electronic components for more-reliable analogues, and they replaced a glue the Russians deemed defective and added waterproofing in a design overhaul of the airframe.

Struggling to staff up

Documents show that Alabuga has struggled to fill specialized positions at the facility, which was to have 810 employees for each of three shifts per day. The production team lacked experts in key and highly complex areas of drone development including electronic warfare systems.

Numerous Alabuga employees have traveled to drone manufacturing centers in Iran to gain expertise, according to personnel documents. Delegations included project managers and engineers, along with students and manual laborers.

While one group was visiting Tehran on Jan. 29, Israeli’s external intelligence service, the Mossad, carried out a strike on a weapons factory in the Iranian city of Isfahan, leaving flames billowing from a site believed to be a production hub for drones and missiles. Alabuga’s managers and engineers were forbidden to leave their hotel as Iranian officials worried that Israel might strike facilities the group was supposed to tour, according to the individual who provided the documents.

The documents also reveal that Central Asian workers who held low-level jobs at Alabuga were sent to Iran because they speak a language similar to Farsi. They were supposed to observe the assembly process on Iranian production sites, interpret for the rest of the delegation and undergo training that would allow them to build drones back in Russia.

By end of spring, an estimated 200 employees and 100 students had received training at the Iranian facilities, according to the documents and the individual.

Students from the local polytechnic university were required to work at the Alabuga factory as part of their curriculum, the Russian news outlet Razvorot reported in July.

Alabuga also has sought to recruit young people for menial assembly-line positions, with glitzy ads promising “a career of the future” and subsidized housing. One ad posted on Alabuga’s Telegram channels invites women ages 16 to 22 to relocate to the site and “build a promising career in the largest center for training specialists in the UAV production,” with a wage starting at $550 a month.

At the same time, the individual said, some workers have been uncomfortable with the idea of developing drones to pummel Ukraine and discontented by what they view as long work hours and poor management. To keep staffers and lure talent from rival manufacturers, Alabuga boosted salaries, budget documents show, with some key workers earning 10 times the median Russian salary. Management created obstacles to prevent employees from quitting, including seizing passports and requiring workers to seek sign-off before leaving their positions, according to the individual.

Damaged drones

The Russians had issues in dealing with the Iranian side. An estimated 25 percent of the drones shipped from Iran for Alabuga’s use and delivered by Russian Defense Ministry aircraft were damaged, according to the documents and the individual who provided them.

One document from February includes a log of damaged or faulty drones received in a second shipment of the UAVs from Iran — separated into the categories of “big boats” and “small boats,” which refer to the Shahed-136 and the Shahed-131, respectively, despite Alabuga’s mainly being interested in the former. The document indicates that 12 of the Iranian drones in the Feb. 15 delivery were inoperable, including one irreparably damaged when it was dropped on the ground.

“That was an interesting moment, because the initial agreement with Iran concerned only big Shahed drones, as the smaller 131 model is pretty useless — its payload is ten times lower compared to the 136 model, and it can maybe blow up a car,” the individual said. “But as you can see, Iran pressed its own conditions for the deal and supplied smaller models, many of them broken.”

The log shows that the Russian team lacked the expertise and replacement parts to repair the damaged or malfunctioning drones.

The team struggled to meet initial deadlines. A February memo shows that project managers warned their higher-ups about a 37-day delay in the schedule as communications with Iran were slowed by the Russian Defense Ministry’s bureaucracy and Iran’s failure to provide some technical documentation.

“Iranians aren’t used to working according to some high European standards, and I suspect they didn’t have a ready set of all documentation,” the person said.

Technicians suggested reverse-engineering a drone already in the possession of Russia’s Defense Ministry to create their own project documentation, but the request was denied as their managers feared it would be perceived as a failure on Alabuga’s part by military officials in Moscow, according to the individual.

“There was a political moment that if we say that we don’t have something, it would show our weakness and inability to implement such a complex project, so all problems were being swept under the rug,” the individual said.

Delivery of the drones and equipment to the production facility also was a challenge. The first Iranian shipments arrived at Begishevo Airport in Tatarstan with little advance notice. Staffers at Alabuga scrambled to sort out the basic logistics of transporting the cargo back to their warehouse, the individual said.

In one instance, after securing trucks to transport the shipment, the staffers realized they did not have a forklift to load the heavy wooden crates full of disassembled drones. An employee was dispatched to a nearby business to find an off-loader, only to realize after finding one that no one was qualified to operate it.

The individual related that boxes of drones were first stored in a nearly empty warehouse as the facility was not yet prepared even for simple tasks such as reattaching parts of the UAV body that had been disassembled for transportation.

“So they just unboxed them and tried to reassemble on the floor,” the individual added. “At the same time, they wanted to show the Defense Ministry that the process was ongoing, the facilities are being built, so they bought some tables and did a photo shoot to show how they are supposedly actively assembling these drones.”

High-ranking officials at Alabuga spent a week taking and retaking photos, according to the individual.

What to know about Ukraine’s counteroffensive

The latest: The Ukrainian military has launched a long-anticipated counteroffensive against occupying Russian forces , opening a crucial phase in the war aimed at restoring Ukraine’s territorial sovereignty and preserving Western support in its fight against Moscow.

The fight: Ukrainian troops have intensified their attacks on the front line in the southeast region, according to multiple individuals in the country’s armed forces, in a significant push toward Russian-occupied territory.

The front line: The Washington Post has mapped out the 600-mile front line between Ukrainian and Russian forces .

How you can help: Here are ways those in the United States can support the Ukrainian people as well as what people around the world have been donating.

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