Key component of russian Shaheds made from parts coming from Ireland and Taiwan

The aggressor country of russia is equipping its strike UAVs with passive antennas that significantly increase the protection of drones from electronic warfare (EW) equipment. The russians assemble these antennas from components that are supplied from Ireland and Taiwan to circumvent sanctions.

This is stated in the investigation of the publication The Insider.

The journalists explained that missiles, drones and some types of ammunition use satellite guidance. The vulnerability of such navigation is that the signal can be jammed using EW systems.

Inertial navigation can be used to “deceive” EW systems, which is an extremely expensive solution. Patch Antenna Arrays can also be used to counteract jamming. Such an array improves the quality of the received signal due to the fact that several antennas participate in its reception at once.

The russians use an antenna array called Kometa. Such antennas were often found in the Shaheds with which the occupiers attack Ukraine every day.

According to The Insider, the russians make Kometa antennas from components purchased to circumvent sanctions from the companies Taoglas (Ireland) and Inpaq (Taiwan).

The publication found out that all patch antennas needed to assemble Kometa are imported to russia under customs code 854231, which includes electronic circuits in general.

It is noted that all goods under this code are subject to export bans by the United States, Great Britain, Taiwan and the European Union. Despite the previously imposed sanctions, Kometa assembly continues from Irish and Taiwanese components.

As Serhii Tovkach, CEO of Avianovatsiya, told The Insider, russia knows how to produce patch antennas. But it is profitable to buy them abroad because of the low price.

“A penny thing is just an antenna, that is, a receiving element. Russia knows how to make this ceramics <…> And the consumer goods that are put on drones are needed so much that, apparently, russia does not want to expand production for it – it is easier and cheaper to buy,” the publication quotes his words.

At the same time, he noted that the Komets use programmable logistic integrated circuits from the American company Altera. These circuits continue to be used to this day, but only because they are easy to buy.

Tovkach emphasized that russia has analogues of such an integrated circuit. Therefore, if the supply of these parts to the russian federation is blocked, this will not affect the production of Komets for drones or ammunition.

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, in March 2024, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on partners to tighten sanctions against russia, as Western-made components continue to be found in russian missiles.

Recall that 42 components manufactured by Western companies were found in the russian Kh-59 aviation cruise missile alone.

We also wrote that foreign components were found in the latest russian S-70 Okhotnik drone, which was shot down by the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Donetsk Region in the fall of 2024.