'Cruise missile' drones and low-cost Shahed knockoffs listed on Alibaba

One-way attack drones described as "cruise missiles" were listed on the popular online retail platform Alibaba for less than $50,000.

Sellers described these long-range fixed-wing drones, similar in design to those used by Iran to attack nearby Gulf states, as suitable for "aerial mapping".

But the same sellers' PDF sales catalogues, obtained by the ABC through the Alibaba platform, made it clear the drones were also designed for war.

After being notified, Alibaba removed the listings and said it suspended the sellers' accounts.

But experts said combat-drone proliferation was a growing problem, with the drones typically being sold under a pretence of "commercial" use.

Bomb drones advertised as pesticide sprayers

One China-based supplier's catalogue listed two kinds of autonomous "cruise missile", equipped with thermal imaging "AI guidance".

The supplier had listed the same drones on Alibaba as "commercial". 

According to the supplier's catalogue, the drones were able to "achieve autonomous locking of targets (people, building, vehicles, ships, etc.) and autonomous impact on [sic]".

A small drone described in the catalogue as able to carry a 2-kilogram bomb 100 kilometres was listed by the seller on Alibaba as suitable for "pesticide spraying".

In another catalogue, a China-based supplier listed five kinds of "suicide attack drones" including two with near-identical dimensions and capabilities to the Iranian-made Shahed 136 one-way attack drone.

The threat of attack from Iran's Shahed drones, as well as ballistic missiles and drone boats, has effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz and choked global oil supplies.

Some sellers also publicly listed military hardware on Alibaba itself, rather than just in their catalogues.

One seller listed a range of small "kamikazedrones", similar to the type being used to intercept drones in Ukraine and the Gulf, and "aerial delivery" drones depicted with mortar rounds.

Alibaba's official policies prohibit the sale of military equipment.

In a statement, the Chinese-owned company said it "strictly prohibits the sale of military weapons" and "acted immediately upon notification to remove the non-compliant third-party listings".

Unlike guns, tanks or fighter jets, drones are "dual-use". Commercial versions can be relatively easily converted to military use.

As a result, long-range drones can be legitimately sold for commercial logistics and survey work, despite the fact they are also capable of flying hundreds of kilometres to deliver a 50kg warhead.

This blurring of conventional boundaries between commercial and military hardware makes it very hard to regulate or otherwise control the sale and spread of these drones as dangerous weapons.

'What they use it for has nothing to do with us': Drone seller

China, which supplies more than 70 per cent of the world's commercial drones, restricts the export of high-performance drone components to prevent civilian drones from being used for military purposes.

It also outwardly maintains a policy of not supplying weapons or military equipment to active conflict zones.

But several suppliers boasted to the ABC they could avoid export restrictions by claiming the drones they sold, including the "suicide attack drones", were purely for commercial use. 

One supplier, who said they wanted to sell to the "Ukrainian and Western battlefields", said the drones were not armed, "so we can't call it a combat drone."

Another said: "It's like a car, it can be used for home work, also can be used for military if you refit bullet-proof glass on it."

A salesperson for a third supplier told the ABC they did not think their products were being used as weapons, but this was ultimately a decision for the customer.

"Just like a car, it's just a means of transportation," they said.

"After the customer makes a purchase, what they use it for has nothing to do with us."

The ABC cannot confirm if the sellers are genuine and able to supply the products they listed.

Many of the listings included videos of drones being tested, as well as photos from inside drone factories.

Access to drones an 'international free-for-all'

Several experts the ABC spoke to said the listings probably were genuine.

China was the main supplier of combat drones to both Russia and Ukraine, Oleksandra Molloy, a senior lecturer in aviation at UNSW said.

"You need to get the warhead separately but they can send military drones worldwide," Dr Molloy said.

"We are now in a drone age where cheap, off-the-shelf commercial drones are being used militarily."

David Dunn, a professor at the University of Birmingham and an authority on the lethal uses of drones, said access to combat-drone technology was an "international free-for-all".

"Traditionally, access to advanced weaponry was limited by virtue of the cost ... and the ability to distinguish which of those technologies were military," he said.

"These things are so much in demand and so useful in commercial settings that they are available to everyone, everywhere.

Malcolm Davis, a senior analyst with the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, said adapting small Chinese-made quadcopter drones for military use was "nothing new", but China would be keeping "a very close eye" on the export of larger long-range drones such as those listed on Alibaba.

Dr Davis said the war in the Middle East showed how long-range drones could neutralise conventional air defences.

"This is the problem the Americans are facing," he said.

"They're using very expensive surface-to-air missiles like the Patriot, which can cost a million a shot, to shoot down a Shahed, which cost $30,000 a drone.

"They're running out of interceptors even as Iranians are deploying large numbers of low-cost drones."