Ukraine’s National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NAZK) has expanded its database of foreign components in Russian weapons, adding eight new details specific to the Russian black-colored Shahed drones. The agency’s press service announced this update on 16 February.
Since September 2022, Russia has actively used Iranian-made Shahed drones to attack Ukraine’s energy and civilian infrastructure. In August 2023, the first reports emerged that Russia had begun attacking Ukraine with domestically made Shahed drones. In November 2023, Russia first attacked Ukraine using black-colored Shahed drones, thereby increasing the challenge of identifying them at night.
The list has been expanded with eight new components, with four of them manufactured in the US, three in China, and one in Switzerland.
“Without foreign-made chips, these drones would not be able to perform their tasks and attack peaceful Ukrainian cities,” the statement said.
The agency notes that despite constant modernization and localization of production, Russian “Shaheds” are still dependent on foreign technologies and components and differ little from Iranian ones.
In December 2023, the NAZK launched the world’s first open global inventory detailing foreign components utilized in Russian and Iranian missiles, drones, electronic warfare systems, and other military equipment.
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