Russia buys Western electronics for Su-57 production

26 September, 2024 The assembly of the Russian Su-57 fighter at the Komsomolsk-on-Amur Aircraft Plant, December 2022. Photo: RIA Novosti The production of Russia's state-of-the-art Su-57 fighter jets is dependent on the supply of Western microelectronics and production equipment.

Frontelligence Insight reported on this, based on the exposed correspondence of the Russian military electronics manufacturer Mikropribor. In accordance with the request of the head of the procurement department of the OJSC Krasnoe Znamya Plant (Almaz-Antey concern) and the management of Mikropribor, in August 2022, the latter was provided with a list of the necessary equipment. The equipment is part of the set of automated workstations for testing and calibration of the MPPU-50 product.

According to the data, the customer intended to fill three positions by the end of 2022. The list consists of components such as the WA36 attenuator, EA-PS 3150 and PLR7 60-12 power supplies, which are foreign-made. They are supplied by Russian intermediary companies that purchase them abroad.

Letter from the Russian OJSC Krasnoe Znamya Plant to the management of Mikropribor, August 2022.

Photo credits: Frontelligence Insight

Letter from the Russian OJSC Krasnoe Znamya Plant to the management of Mikropribor, August 2022. Photo credits: Frontelligence Insight

MPPU-50 is a radio receiver element operating in the L- and X-band. They are used for satellite communications and radar.

The official letter states that these elements are critical in the production of aircraft. And problems with their supply could jeopardize the production of new Su-57 fighter jets. However, the dependence of production is not limited to microelectronics for avionics maintenance systems of Russian aircraft.

Even after international sanctions were imposed, the Russian Micropribor entered into an agreement with the Russian company KMT, which undertook to supply a German Siemens KLE 360 lathe in July 2012.

Agreement between Mikropribor and the supplier KMT. Photo credits: Frontelligence Insight

Russian aircraft industry and sanctions

Militarnyi previously reported that Russian defense companies are using intermediaries, such as Kazakhstani aircraft repair companies and defense suppliers, to circumvent international sanctions. In particular, the Kazakh ARC Group fraudulently purchased military equipment from the French companies Thales and Safran, allegedly for Kazakh fighter jets, but in fact installed them on Russian Su-30SMs.

In addition, specialists were trained abroad in the same way, who later worked at Russian aircraft manufacturing companies and serviced the Russian aircraft.