German elements make their manner into Russian drones | EUROtoday

Components from German producers have been present in Russian drones attacking Ukrainian cities. German media reported on this in January, citing the most recent Geran-5 assault drone particularly.

The tv broadcaster ntv and later different German media reported that transistors made by the German firm Infineon Technologies had been present in a Geran-5, together with different foreign-made parts. The info had been revealed on an internet portal known as War and Sanctionswhich is run by Ukraine’s navy intelligence service HUR. It features a detailed listing of all overseas parts discovered to this point in Russian navy tools.

According to the War and Sanctions web site, nearly all of overseas parts in Russian navy tools come from the US and China. Some 137 parts are listed within the “Made in Germany” class, greater than half of which had been found in drones. The relaxation had been present in rockets, radar tools, navy automobiles and helicopters.

German transistors notably valued

Transistors are essentially the most often used German parts, comprising round 50 gadgets. Others embody pumps, inductors, mills, capacitators, transformers and batteries.

The “most popular” German producer is the Bavarian firm Infineon Technologies. Some 58 of the 137 parts, principally transistors, had been constructed into drones. Other parts had been produced by the German firms TDK Electronics, Würth Elektronik, Bosch and Pierburg, a subsidiary of the Rheinmetall Group.

At DW’s request, the HUR supplied dozens of examples of Infineon transistors present in Russian Geran drones, a variation on Iranian-made Shahed drones. The transistors are tiny microchips whose mannequin and batch numbers can solely be seen below a microscope.

According to the HUR, the management system of each Geran drone, from the Geran-2 mannequin onward, makes use of between eight and 12 German-made transistors. In August 2025, the deputy head of Ukrainian navy intelligence Vadym Skibitskyi advised the Ukrainian nationwide public broadcaster Suspilne that Russia aimed to provide 40,000 Geran-2 drones per 12 months, which might require virtually half 1,000,000 transistors.

Hundreds of hundreds of German parts

A HUR consultant advised DW that Russia has been making an attempt to scale back its dependence on Western parts for drone manufacturing. “In 2023, the proportion of American components in some types of Shahed-136 drones was as high as 80%, but now up to 60% come from China,” he defined.

But the HUR consultant additionally stated Russian producers had been in no hurry to switch German high quality with what are thought of inferior Chinese alternate options: “Infineon transistors are used in many domestic appliances and utensils, and clearly they have no problem obtaining the quantities they need.”

It definitely is not troublesome to order these transistors on-line. On eBay, for instance, they’re available at a worth of round $29.90 (€25.30) for 5. One on-line service provider provides as much as 45 models. Though they do not provide on to Russia, Belarus or Kazakhstan, the elements can nonetheless be obtained by Georgia or China.

The HUR assumes that within the majority of circumstances, Moscow is ordering German-manufactured transistors straight from Germany by dummy firms, concealing the true provide chain. In this manner, parts are both smuggled into Russia, or equipped through third nations.

How do the elements get to Russia?

Viktor Winkler, a German professional on sanctions insurance policies, advised DW that the supply of military-relevant parts to Russia from Germany alongside oblique routes — by third nations corresponding to Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, China or Central Asian states — has decreased since 2022. Increasingly, he stated, these shipments had been being made straight, through legal dummy firms in Germany that purchase the products from producers and provide them to Russia illegally.

“So, my assumption is that no third country and no circumvention is involved in this instance,” stated Winkler. “Rather, there may be a highly criminal direct relationship, with criminals supplying Russia with components from other companies. Other, similar cases have been characterized by business relationships with Russia that were planned long in advance.”

Overall, he assesses the supply of navy parts from Germany to Russia as “legally serious, but ultimately isolated incidents,” particularly in comparison with different “massive” areas of sanctions evasion, together with for instance the sale of luxurious items or client gadgets.

Manufacturers: Resale to Russia troublesome to regulate

DW contacted the German producers on the listing, all of whom insisted that they don’t provide to Russia, and abide by the sanctions.

The Bavarian semiconductor producer Infineon stated it had stopped all deliveries to Russia in 2022. However, it additionally stated that it was troublesome to regulate how a product was bought on over its lifetime, as Infineon produces round 30 billion chips a 12 months. “When we receive concrete, reliable indications that a company with which we do business is trading with Russia, we stop supplying them and demand an explanation from the company concerned. This also applies to our cooperation with public authorities,” Infineon stated.

In response to the reviews that the Geran-2 drone makes use of Pierburg pumps, the Düsseldorf-based armaments group Rheinmetall acknowledged: “The German customs authorities informed Rheinmetall in January 2024 that civilian electrical fuel pumps with a production date of July 2020, manufactured for the automotive spare parts market, had found their way to Russia. This was not a Rheinmetall delivery, and we know nothing about their export to Russia, or who exported them.” The firm harassed that it was cooperating totally with the investigating authorities.

Würth Elektronik additionally advised DW that it had severed its enterprise ties to Russia in 2022. “All deliveries abroad are subject to strict export controls,” the corporate wrote in a press release. “Our components are not constructed for military purposes, nor are they authorized to be used for military purposes. We explicitly inform our customers of this.”

Würth Elektronik assured DW that it forbids shoppers based mostly outdoors the EU from forwarding any items equipped to them to be used in Russia. However, the corporate couldn’t exclude the likelihood that Russia could also be drawing on present inventory delivered earlier than sanctions had been imposed.

Bosch: Counterfeits in circulation

The expertise group Bosch advised DW that it now not has any operational enterprise relations with Russia. “All our units and employees worldwide have been instructed not to do business with Russia or Belarus,” the corporate stated. It added that the gas pump for the Geran-3 drone talked about on the HUR web site is “not a Bosch product” and advised that it might be one among many counterfeit merchandise typically in circulation.

As for the push-button swap within the Shahed-136 drone, the corporate confirmed that it was a Bosch product. It might be “a commodity product from Bosch that is sold in large quantities for a variety of applications, such as emergency stop switches,” the corporate stated.

Bosch acknowledged that there are parallel imports, however that these are “made without the manufacturer’s knowledge and from countries that have not imposed sanctions on Russia.”

“We have no reliable information about the extent of possible parallel imports, nor is it possible to obtain this information on the Russian market,” the corporate stated.

The firm insisted it had established complete inside procedures to adjust to sanctions and fight their circumvention. Nevertheless, Bosch admitted: “The end use of our supplies is often unknown due to complex, multi-stage supply chains.”

For its half, TDK Electronics advised DW in a press release that it had stopped deliveries to Russia after the warfare started and closed its gross sales workplace in Moscow in 2023. The firm emphasised that it complies with all EU sanctions, and contracts with prospects comprise a clause prohibiting the navy use of TDK merchandise.

“Nevertheless, small orders from development laboratories or even private individuals are possible when it comes to component distributors and cannot be fully traced in terms of their final use. Here, too, we are working to prevent the circumvention of applicable laws,” the corporate admitted. Purely civilian merchandise corresponding to washing machines, fridges and even vehicles might be imported. These might then be dismantled and their elements put in in navy tools.

This article was initially written in Russian.