After being shot down in October, Ukraine confirmed that a Sukhoi S-70 Okhotnik drone from the Russian Aerospace Forces contains technological components produced by companies from the United States and Europe. This discovery not only drew attention due to the presence of Western elements, but also because it is one of the most advanced unmanned combat aerial vehicles (UCAV) developed by the Russian aerospace industry.
Following an analysis conducted by Ukrainian authorities on the S-70 downed on October 5 near Kostyantynivka, a city in the Donetsk region, a report noted the presence of microelectronics and other technological parts from Analog Devices, Texas Instruments, and Xilinx-AMD, as well as Infineon Technologies in Germany and STMicroelectronics in Switzerland. This document was shared by the Ukrainian government on the official portal where these companies were listed.
According to Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence Directorate (GUR), Russia possesses only four S-70 drones, which are manufactured by the Sukhoi company and cost around USD 15 million each. Its design is similar to that of the U.S. RQ-170 Sentinel drone by Lockheed Martin. The S-70, which has been in development since the early 2010s, made its first flight in 2019 and debuted in combat during the war in Ukraine.
This recent discovery, reported by various media outlets, is the latest in a series of findings of Western components within Russian weapons, despite sanctions aimed at limiting Moscow’s war effort. As an example, the GUR claimed to have found more than 4,000 foreign components in nearly 150 Russian weapons captured or recovered.
Despite the surprising discovery of these components, all companies involved stated in interviews that, since the start of the war in Ukraine in 2022, they have taken steps to prevent their technologies from reaching Russian hands, in compliance with international sanctions and export controls.
For its part, to help stop the flow of military technology to Russia, U.S. government agencies have imposed sanctions on hundreds of companies worldwide that provide technology to Russia. Last month, the U.S. Department of the Treasury sanctioned 275 individuals and entities “involved in supplying Russia with advanced technology and equipment it desperately needs to support its war machine,” the department said in a press release.
Finally, in that context, Infineon spokesperson Andre Tauber said in an interview with The War Zone that a major challenge is controlling sales “throughout a product’s entire life cycle (Infineon produces about 30 billion chips per year).” Tauber also added that Infineon “has taken extensive measures to stop all direct and indirect shipments to Russia immediately following the Russian attack on Ukraine, regardless of the legal possibility to continue certain transactions. As decided in March 2022, Infineon subsequently liquidated its entity in Russia.”
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