It has been discovered that a Sukhoi S-70 Okhotnik-B unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV), found crashed behind Ukrainian lines, was reliant on a plethora of Western chips. The drone included parts from Analog Devices, Fairchild Semiconductor, Infineon, Marvell, Maxim, Micron, ON Semiconductor, STMicroelectronics, Texas Instruments, Xilinx, and more – some of which also produce electronics for the U.S. military. According to the German news site Golem.de (machine translated), the drone was deliberately shot down by a Russian jet after it went out of control in the Donetsk region, some 16 kilometers behind the frontlines. Ukrainian soldiers then recovered the wreckage and Ukraine’s military intelligence service’s (GUR) investigation revealed these chips and their sources.
The S-70 Okhotnik-B is one of Russia’s most advanced drone prototypes, and it’s supposed to act as an autonomous wingman to the Sukhoi Su-57 using artificial intelligence. Although the S-70 is primarily a reconnaissance drone, it’s reported to have an internal weapons bay capable of carrying up to 2,000kg of missiles, rockets, or bombs. Because of this, the S-70 requires advanced electronics to help accomplish its mission. Although the West has heavily sanctioned Russia, reducing its access to advanced technologies, it’s still able to acquire key components through the black market, allowing Russian companies to continue using Western electronics to produce weapons despite stringent export control. For example, Ukrainian defenders have seen Western technologies in Russian missiles as of late October 2024.
STMicroelectronics says that it “does not approve the use of its products outside of its intended use and have implemented comprehensive trade compliance programs” while Infineon Technologies has stopped delivering to Russia since it invaded Ukraine. However, their…
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