Russia uses foreign components for "Molniya" and "Phoenix" drones - DIU. PHOTO
The Russian Molniya and Phoenix UAVs use components made in China and some Western countries, including Switzerland, the United States and the Netherlands.
This was reported by Censor.NET with reference to the DIU project"War & Sanctions".
The intelligence officers provided a description of these drones, in which they found foreign components.
"The Molniya is an aircraft-type strike unmanned aerial vehicle launched from a special catapult and guided by an operator like an FPV drone. The UAV has a range of up to 40 km and a warhead of up to 5 kg, which is ten times smaller than the Shahed's.
In addition to military targets, Molniya is regularly used to attack civilian targets.
"In November of this year, a high-rise building and a shopping centre in the Saltiv district of Kharkiv were targeted, and several people were injured. Given that the UAV is controlled and guided directly by the operator, civilian objects were deliberately targeted," the DIU said.
What is the UAV's "stuffing"?
It is noted that the Molniya has a fairly simple design and cheap components, mostly Chinese. The labelling of the electric motor, flight controller, camera and most electronic components corresponds to Chinese manufacturers - FATJAY, SpeedyBee, Caddx, Huayi Microelectronics, Trex Technologies, etc.
However, the Chinese flight controllers, like many other boards of various Russian weapons, are powered by microcontrollers labelled by the Swiss manufacturer STMicroelectronics. In addition, the engine control board uses converters labelled by the American manufacturer Vishay and capacitors by the Japanese manufacturer Rubycon.
What we know about Phoenix
"The Phoenix is a reconnaissance UAV that its developer, Russia's TAIP LLC, calls a "development of the Orlan-10".
The "stuffing" contains components labelled by manufacturers from five countries - the United States, Switzerland, China, the Netherlands, and Taiwan. The largest number of components - 7 - are labelled by STMicroelectronics, which is headquartered in Switzerland and has production facilities in nine countries on three continents.
