Western-made components found in Parody decoy drone

11 November, 2024 The Russian Parody decoy UAV was discovered on the territory of Moldova. Photo credits: DIU The Defense Intelligence of Ukraine has discovered a significant number of Western-made components in the Russian Parody decoy drone.

The statement was published on the official Facebook page of the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine. During a detailed inspection of the Russian Parody decoy drone, experts found a significant number of components from China, the United States and the European Union that ensure its full functioning. This drone is a primitive decoy UAV that, through the use of a Luneberg lens, radar imitates the Shahed-136/Geran-2 attack drones.

The Parody decoy drone.

Photo credits: Defense Intelligence of Ukraine

During the study of the drone's internal elements, components manufactured by companies from China (Ebyte, Jiashan Jinchang Electron, Yangzhou Yangjie Electronic Technology), the United States (Texas Instruments, Cypress Semiconductor, InvenSense), Switzerland (STMicroelectronics) and Taiwan (SONiX Technology) were found. This demonstrates the difficulties Russia faces in producing its own components and semiconductors suitable for even primitive drones such as these wooden decoy drones. However, it is almost impossible to completely block the supply of these components to Russia, as most of the sanctioned components and equipment are imported into the country through third countries.

In addition, Russia is setting up companies in Hong Kong that export products for the defense sector, disguising them as household goods such as air conditioners, freezers, etc.

The components used on the Parody decoy UAV. Photo credits: War Sanctions

Militarnyi previously reported that Russia received sanctioned equipment through Hong Kong that was used to manufacture drones and other weapons. Most of them were shipped from Hong Kong, where there is a powerful system of front companies that export equipment.

Russia uses it to produce weapons, including drones, cruise missiles, and more. The re-export plan is quite simple: the company buys Western chips, sensors, and cameras, indicating the delivery point as Hong Kong, and resells it to Russia upon arrival. Some companies, such as Olax Finance and Rikkon Holding, located in a multi-story building at 135 Bonham Strand in Hong Kong, are not subject to US sanctions, allowing them to freely purchase necessary equipment.

According to an analysis of Russian customs data, corporate records, domain registrations, and sanctions data, Russia has received chips and other semiconductors worth more than £4 billion from more than 6,000 companies.